Small Worlds
by Shiori07
Summary: Blaise de Luca was a foreign exchange student from America. Hikaru found her infuriating. They were bickering all the time and Blaise always found a way to get under his skin. If this was the case, why was it that he found himself . . . drawn to her? Warning: story title may change.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter 1: Arrival

**Author's notes: Hey guys! So this is an Ouran fanfic idea that I've had stuck in my mind for a while. It wouldn't leave me alone so I just had to write it even though I promised myself that I would finish my other fanfiction first. But seeing as how this story is here, I will just work on them simultaneously, so those of you reading my other story, do not fear, it's still going. So yeah, enjoy this first chapter and for those of you who like Sword Art Online (I know I do!) I ask that you check out my other story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. I only own this story and my OCs.**

The airport was full of people. Some were in suits, irritably talking on their phones to their associates. Others were families, children with small bags on their backs, either crying or animatedly talking to their parents. Suitcases were pulled across the tile floor and voices were speaking Japanese everywhere you looked.

One girl was standing in the center of the room, looking slightly out of place. She had long dark hair that almost reached her waist, some of the hair was shorter than the rest and barely passed her chin, nicely framing her face. Her eyes were a startling emerald green and were behind a pair of simple, yet elegant looking, black rimmed glasses. She wore a pair of tight, dark blue jeans that hugged her slender frame in all the right places. These jeans were tucked nicely into a pair of black boots that went up to her mid-calf. She wore a loose, red blouse that had sleeves that stopped just at her elbows and a longer back than front so that the front looked normal length while the back modestly covered her backside. A simple, wide, brown belt encircled her mid drift.

The girl stood by a bench, stretching. Her carry-on bag was placed on the seat beside her. Her neck felt stiff and she tried to fix that by rolling her shoulders. _That was the longest flight ever. _She thought to herself. She had just arrived in Japan on a plane from the United States. The flight had lasted about twelve hours and she was feeling sore.

She glanced around as she stretched, seeming to look for something. She took note of the people milling about around her. She felt slightly alienated as she listened to their Japanese. She wasn't used to the language, as she had mostly grown up speaking English, but she had begun to study the language not too long ago, so she knew how to speak it, though she hadn't quite mastered it yet. She decided to practice her comprehension and listen to snippets of the conversations that went on around her. She was satisfied when she discovered she could make out most of what was being said.

As she looked around, taking in her new surroundings in a foreign country, a certain someone caught her eye. It seemed to be a girl that was about her height. This girl wore a white, frilly blouse and a short, red skirt. She wore sparkly, white flats on her feet and a black headband in her shoulder length auburn hair. The headband had a flowerlike design on the side made out of what appeared to be diamonds.

The girl by the bench half hoped that the girl wouldn't see her, but when she did she couldn't help but give a slight smile as the other girl spotted her and started to run towards her with a squeal, her dark, ocean blue eyes sparkling and as wide as saucers. The girl near the bench braced herself as best as she could in preparation for the hug/tackle she was about to receive.

As the auburn haired girl approached, she flung her arms out and said in a loud, cheerful voice "Blaise-chan!" The girl by the bench, Blaise, barely kept herself from toppling backward as the other girl threw her bag on the bench beside Blaise's and flung her arms around her neck, a river of tears streaming down her face. "Oh, Blaise-chan!" she continued, speaking English. "It's been _so _long since we've seen each other in person! How's my little sis doing? She missed her Onee-chan didn't she? Yes she did, I know she did!" She said this as she rubbed her face against Blaise's cheek a little too affectionately. People began to stare as Blaise tried to calm the other girl down.

"Calm down already, Aldric. People are starting to stare! And if anything, shouldn't it be 'Onii-chan?'" Blaise asked tiredly, also in English.

Aldric, as Blaise had called the girl clinging to her neck, pulled back slightly and made a tutting sound, waving one finger in front of her face. "Now, now, Blaise-chan. How many times must I tell you to call me Kumiko? We've been through this! As your sister you must respect me."

"Don't let mother hear you say that." Blaise said under her breath with contempt. "And as my _brother._" Blaise emphasized the title. "You should be a good influence and not dress like a girl in public." She said this as she tried her best to keep her now revealed brother at bay. He simply refused to release his arms from around her neck so Blaise had to keep her hands at his waist and keep his body from touching hers. However, she did not appear to be succeeding.

"Kumiko" leaned back slightly to get a good look at his sister, his face in a pout. "But you still love me this way right? I mean we _are_ siblings. Shouldn't we always love each other no matter what?"

Blaise sighed. "Yes." She answered. Her brother squealed and resumed rubbing his cheek against hers. She leaned away and was very conscious of the people around her staring, mostly because of the scene they were making, the fact that they were the only ones in the airport speaking English, and the fact that they were (or at least seemed to be) two pretty girls.

Aldric leaned back again and looked his sister up and down. "Oh, Blaise-chan, you look so cute! If you weren't my sister I'd marry you!" He tried to hug her tightly again but she finally found a way to duck under his arm, causing him to fall onto his face on the floor.

She stepped around him and answered in a tired voice. "I didn't choose to dress myself this way ok? Mother made me. She even personally picked what clothes I was to pack."

"Did she now?" Aldric asked, sounding slightly interested. That was when the clock overhead struck the hour. Aldric heard this and his eyes widened. "Oh no! I'm going to be late for my flight!" he said this all the while waving his hands frantically, and overdramatically, in the air. He quickly hugged Blaise and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before reaching over to the bench and snatching up his bag. "Bye, Blaise-chan! We'll video chat later ok?" he asked as he ran, waving his hand in a hasty farewell.

Blaise chuckled softly to herself. "Yeah, we will." She answered, waving back slowly. She watched as her transvestic brother ran to go through security. She smiled. Staying in Japan had changed her brother, but for the most part it wasn't a bad change. Blaise grabbed her bag and looked toward the exit. _Maybe it will do the same for me too. _She thought as she made her way to the doors.

* * *

As she left baggage claim, Blaise looked around for her ride. She didn't know what the car would look like but she knew who was driving her.

She stepped outside and looked around, wondering where he might be. He had just dropped off Aldric. He should still be here.

Just when Blaise thought that maybe he forgot, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around at the touch and was delighted to see who it was.

"Hey, Blaise." The dark haired man in a suit now standing in front of her said in English.

Blaise smiled shyly. "Dad." She said, also in English. Blaise wanted to jump into his arms and hug him at that moment but she felt a little awkward. She hadn't really seen or talked to her dad properly in ten years, the last time she saw him in person. So when he opened his arms she awkwardly walked into them and hugged him.

When they parted, there was a slightly awkward silence between them. Blaise stood there, her hand resting on the handle of her suitcase, her fingers drumming. Her father stood beside her, happy that he finally got to see and talk to his daughter in person after ten years, yet not sure what to do.

Finally, Blaise broke the awkward silence by asking "So, where did you park the car?"

Her dad looked at her and smiled. "It's just down the road." He answered, pointing to a gray car with four doors a little ways away. It didn't looked new to Blaise, but it looked pretty decent.

She smiled shyly at him and said. "Ok. Let's go." They began to walk when her father asked if he could take her suitcase. She didn't want to trouble him but he smiled at her kindly and looked into her eyes. She agreed and let him take it to the car. As he went to go put it in the trunk, Blaise opened the front passenger door and slid into the car. _This is going to be a long ride. _She thought to herself as she closed the door, sealing herself inside.

* * *

The ride to her dad's was long and awkward at first, but after a while, Blaise fell asleep due to jetlag and before she knew it, they had arrived. When her dad gently told her to wake up, Blaise groggily yawned and looked out the window. She had never seen her father's house before now, but when she looked at it, she was surprised at how small it was. It was definitely a commoner's house and not what she was used to.

She smiled though. It looked inviting, and if Aldric had happily lived here then she knew she could too.

When Blaise's dad reassured his daughter that he would get her suitcase, he handed her a key to the house and told her to go ahead inside. She took it tentatively and walked to the front gate. As she walked up, she glanced at the mailbox and saw "de Luca" written on it. Her last name.

Blaise opened the gate and left it open for her dad. Then she made her way to the front door and opened that too. She wasn't surprised by what she found inside. During many of their video chats, Aldric, being in a momentarily hyper mood, had picked up his computer and taken his sister throughout the entire house with him. Seeing it on the computer screen was different though and she still wanted to walk through the house in person.

When she entered, Blaise took off her boots and left them by the door. Then she made her way into the house. The first thing she saw was a joint living room, dining room, and kitchen space. The kitchen and dining table were on her left and a couch and some chairs were over to her right, all facing a small, flat screen television. It wasn't a very luxurious setting but it was nice and very spacious. In the back of the room, she could see a staircase that she knew led up to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Blaise had time to walk around once before her father came in. He set his daughter's suitcase on the couch and looked around, his hands on his hips. "Yep. This is home." He stated. Then he looked at Blaise. "So what do you think about lunch?"

* * *

Blaise now sat in her room on the floor, trying to set up her laptop. She planned on video chatting Aldric soon. She expected him to be in the States by now, but she wanted to give him some time to settle before she called him.

When she had finally finished setting up the Wi-Fi connection, Blaise sat back, thinking about the day. She had gone out to eat with her dad at a nearby restaurant. It was nice and he treated her, but she had felt a little awkward. They only made small conversation when they had talked, which was rarely, and when they talked in public they had to do so in Japanese, lest everyone stare at them.

After that, her dad had shown her around, driving her in his car and showing her places she would most likely be going to while she stayed in Japan. He even showed her the new school she would be attending starting tomorrow, Ouran Academy.

She felt weird about going to that school for several reasons. One was that she had just arrived in Japan today. She had barely settled in. Another was that it was a very prestigious school. She had wanted to just go into the public school system, but going to Ouran Academy was the only way to appease her mother. A third reason was that she knew absolutely no one there. She knew _of _a few people because Aldric, having gone there until he graduated last year, talked to her about some of the people he knew. Even dressing for school was a problem at the moment because she didn't have the money to buy the uniform yet. To top it all off, when she had looked at the school, she immediately thought that it was too pink for her taste.

After they had a quick dinner, they had gone back to the house and Blaise decided to just go to her room for the rest of the night anyway. She had thanked her dad and hurried up the steps to save herself from more awkward silences.

Because there weren't enough rooms, Blaise had to take Aldric's. When she opened the door, it already had a feminine touch to it which both amused and scared her at the same time. It smelled of perfume. The walls were white, but everything else was mostly either a light shade of purple or pink. Blaise had seen parts of the room before on her computer screen and had expected it to be a little girly, but she had never expected it to be like this.

Now she yawned widely as she contemplated on taking a bath before calling Aldric and going to bed. She decided to take a bath first and pulled her suitcase toward her to get out what she needed. When she unzipped the bag and opened it, she froze at what she saw inside. At first she was confused. Then she immediately knew who she had to confront. She hurriedly pulled her laptop toward herself and called Aldric. She impatiently waited as it made a ringing sound. Blaise wasn't waiting long before her brother's girlish face appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Blaise-chan!" He greeted excitedly. "Look! I'm in America now! It's been so long! How long _has_ it been? Four or five years? Well anyway, this is so-!"

"Aldric, what is this?" She asked, gesturing into her suitcase. Only it wasn't hers she was pretty sure. These clothes were definitely not hers. They were guys' clothes.

Aldric looked at the screen closely before putting a hand to his mouth and giggling innocently. "What's the matter?"

"These are guys' clothes."

"Really? Maybe you grabbed the wrong bag."

"My name tag is on it. We both know what happened."

Aldric put a hand to his chest. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You went to baggage claim before you came to greet me didn't you? You switched our bags."

Aldric smiled innocently. "Well dad packed my clothes knowing that I would want to bring girls' ones. So since I thought that mom would to the same for you I switched them."

Blaise pinched the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, Aldric? Mom's going to kill us now, you know that right? And anyway you're supposed to go to university soon. Why would you cross dress for that?"

Aldric huffed. "Well I refuse to lose my fashion sense just because I am going to another country!"

"Typical." Blaise said as she sighed. Then she told her brother she did not have the energy to deal with him at that moment and she hung up on his devastated face at being told that by his beloved sister. Blaise looked down at her "manly" wardrobe. She sighed. _I guess I'll have to dress like a guy to school tomorrow. _She thought to herself as she grabbed some clothes and went to take a bath.

* * *

Blaise woke up the next day and pulled on the outfit she had chosen the night before. She had chosen a pair of tan slacks and a white and light blue, horizontally striped button down shirt. The stripes were thin and barely noticeable but Blaise kind of liked it. She went to the bathroom and performed her usual morning routine, washing her face and brushing her teeth included. When she got back, she brushed her hair and put it in a ponytail so that her hair rested on one shoulder. Some of her hair wasn't long enough to stay in the tail so she just left it to frame her face. She put on her glasses and grabbed her messenger bag as she left the room.

When she got downstairs, her father was awake and saw the way she was dressed. He laughed lightly as he asked why she was dressed that way. Blushing slightly, Blaise quickly explained about Aldric's switching the suitcases. Her father laughed again and commented about how he would have expected nothing less from "Kumiko."

Then, Blaise picked up an apple from the table and insisted that they go. So they got in the car and her dad drove her to school. Blaise was really nervous so she tried to force herself to eat her apple, but she didn't really feel hungry.

When they arrived, Blaise and her dad said a slightly awkward goodbye and when Blaise shut the car door, the gray car drove away.

At the same time, nearby, a certain pair of red-headed identical twins were stepping out of their limousine. When they spotted Blaise walking toward Ouran in regular clothing, they quickly glanced at each other. Slowly, an evil glint appeared in their eyes as they smiled. Arm in arm they walked over to their newest victim. They quietly snuck up behind her, one of them on each side of her. Suddenly, they whispered simultaneously. "Why, hello there."

Blaise jumped when she heard the whispers in her ears. "Ah!" she screamed quickly as she turned around. Her surprise quickly turned into irritation when she saw the two red headed twins laughing hysterically. She was blushing now, and adrenaline was still making her heart race. She stood with her hands balled at her sides, waiting for them to stop laughing.

Eventually, Kaoru straightened up and Hikaru wiped a tear from his eye and they looked at the person in front of them. They stood side by side with a hand on their hip, mirroring each other.

"Hi." Kaoru began.

"You must be a first year." Hikaru continued.

"We've never seen you before." Kaoru added.

Blaise looked between them, creeped out that they completed each other's sentences. She nodded curtly, wondering where this was going. The twins exchanged a quick look, though Blaise still caught it as they continued.

"Well, just so you now," they both said simultaneously. "We're the-."

"Hold it." Blaise said, putting up a hand and silencing the two in front of her. She looked up at them, for they were slightly taller than her, and she was satisfied to see that they had surprised looks on their faces because she had stopped them. She stood up straight and looked at them before saying in Japanese, "I don't have time for you jerks to mess around with me. I'm going be late." With that, she pulled up the strap of her bag up onto her shoulder and smugly walked toward the horrifically pink school.

Hikaru and Kaoru stared at this mysterious new kid as she made her way to the school. Hikaru put his arm around Kaoru's shoulders and Kaoru put an arm around his older brother's waist.

Hikaru began to speak. "That was . . . "

"Interesting." Kaoru finished for him. They looked at each other. A mischievous grin etched its way onto their faces. This new guy (or what they believed to be a male) looked like a potential new "toy" for them to play with.

**A/N: Oh no, there go the twins. What are they planning? What's the deal with Blaise's mom? Where is the rest of the Host Club? Why did the twins ask if Blaise was a first year? Weren't they first years too? Don't worry, most of these will be answered next chapter. So tell me what you thought. Review, favorite and follow please! Not forcing you though. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Host Club?

Chapter 2: A Host Club?

**A/N: Hey! Welcome to chapter two! Thank you people who have already followed this story. I have to say, that was fast. Now I know this chapter seems kind of long, but that is because it is mostly dialogue. You all know how talkative our favorite hosts can be. Anyway, enjoy.**

Blaise walked through the halls of the pink school, her schedule in hand. She was trying to figure out where her classroom was as she walked by hundreds of students in the halls. They all seemed to stare at her as she passed, whispering behind their hands to each other, some more discreet than others. The girls especially did this, but quickly stopped and blushed when Blaise looked at them.

_What the hell is _their _problem? _Blaise felt a little uncomfortable as she felt eyes looking at her as she walked. At first she wondered why they were looking at her, but then she came to the conclusion that it was because she wasn't wearing the uniform and they were talking about how horrible she looked in her outfit. Disregarding the fact that people stared at her, Blaise was kind of glad that she wasn't wearing the girl's uniform for Ouran Academy. It was a big, poofy, yellow monstrosity.

Eventually, Blaise found her first class. When she got there, a lot of students her age were already inside. They all seemed to know each other and Blaise guessed it was because they went to the same junior high school.

Feeling slightly out of place, Blaise went to the very back corner desk by the window and sat down. She took out a notebook and a mechanical pencil and stared out the window, waiting for lecture to start.

When the teacher arrived, everyone became quiet and sat down at their desks and lecture began. At first, Blaise was panicking because the teacher was talking too fast in Japanese for her to understand what was being said, but after a while she was able to keep up as she got used to it.

For the most part, the rest of her classes for the day went this way. She sat in the back and took notes during lectures. She didn't really talk to anyone, though, when people talked to her and she was forced to speak, she was polite while keeping her answers short as to not have the conversation drag on. However, Blaise was not lucky enough for this to last all day for her.

* * *

Blaise was very advanced for her age, so she had to go to several classes that were filled with upperclassmen. This included a certain pair of red headed twins.

"Hey, Kaoru." Hikaru said, getting his younger brother's attention as they walked down the hall to their next class, Haruhi in between them.

"Yeah?" Kaoru asked his brother, looking over Haruhi's head at him.

"We _are_ meeting in Music Room three today aren't we?"

"Yeah. That's what Tamaki-senpai said. Why?"

"No reason. I was just wondering if we were, seeing as how Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai graduated last year."

"Well the boss said that, even though they graduated, they still agreed to come by whenever they were free and didn't have classes at the universtiy."

"Ah. I see." Hikaru said, folding his hands behind his head. "I still have one question though." He looked down at Haruhi. "How is it that you're still coming with us, Haruhi? I mean, last year at the festival, we kind of gave it away that you were a girl."

Haruhi sighed and answered in a tired tone. "Apparently, Tamaki-senpai and Kyoya-senpai somehow convinced everyone that I was cosplaying. I don't see how people bought that though."

"Well the boss has his charms." Kaoru pondered out loud. "I'm sure that with Kyoya-senpai's help he could do anything."

"I guess." Haruhi said cautiously. "But I still don't see how _everyone _bought it. There should have at least been one person who was skeptical." The twins thought about it for a moment before shrugging simultaneously.

That was when they walked through the door into their advanced geometry class. Kaoru was about to ask a question when his brother grabbed his arm.

"Kaoru, look who's sitting in the back." Hikaru said quickly.

Kaoru looked. "Who? Satsuki? What about her?"

"No, no, no. Look at the corner desk by the window."

Kaoru adjusted his gaze until his eyes fell upon Blaise, sitting in her usual spot. "Oh." He said, a grin matching his brother's creeping onto his face.

Haruhi saw who they were talking about and sighed. "Oh no. Is that the first-year you said you messed with outside?"

"Who said we messed with him?" Hikaru said innocently.

"Yeah. We were just saying 'hello.'" Kaoru said looking at her.

"Sure. _That's _what you were doing." Haruhi said skeptically. "Just leave the poor guy alone. Not _everyone's_ lives improve when you two introduce yourselves to them."

"Whatever do you mean, Haruhi?" Kaoru asked with a pout on his face. Then he turned to his brother. "What do you say we finish those introductions, Hikaru?"

"I think that's a great idea, Kaoru." Hikaru said with a mischievous smile on his face and, before Haruhi could do anything else, the twins walked arm in arm to the back of the classroom.

* * *

"Why, hello there." Blaise cringed at the familiar voices. She turned away from the window and felt irritation well up inside her as she looked into the faces of the twins she "met" outside.

"Hi." She said.

"Wow. You didn't jump this time." Kaoru said.

"Very impressive." Hikaru added.

Blaise looked at them in annoyance. "What do you want?" She asked sharply. Normally she would be polite, but these twins had already given her a bad first impression.

"Well that didn't sound very nice." Hikaru commented.

"We just wanted to introduce ourselves and apologize for earlier." Kaoru continued, innocently. When Blaise didn't say anything, they continued.

"Well, I'm Kaoru."

"And I'm Hikaru."

"And together, we're the Hitachiin brothers!" They dramatically said in unison as they held their arms out grandly.

Blaise stared at them bewildered. "Yeah . . . ok." She said.

Both of them leaned toward her. "So? What's your name?" Hikaru asked.

Blaise leaned slightly away from them before she answered. "Blaise de Luca."

"That's foreign, isn't it?" Kaoru asked, interested. Blaise nodded.

"It's French." Hikaru said quickly. "Are you from France?"

"No." Blaise answered before another question was thrown at her.

"Then where are you from?" Kaoru inquired.

Blaise wasn't sure what to do. They just wouldn't leave. "America." She said after a while.

"Really? What's it like over there?" Hikaru asked. Blaise was starting to feel really awkward until another boy about her height with short, dark brown hair came over and shoved one of the twins on the shoulder.

"Knock it off." He said. "Didn't I tell you guys to leave him alone?" _Him?_

"But, Haruhi!" Kaoru whined. "We were just trying to get to know the new kid better."

"Yeah right." Haruhi said, then turned to Blaise. "Sorry about them. Just ignore them and you should be fine. I'm Haruhi Fujioka by the way. Nice to meet you."

Blaise looked at Haruhi's outstretched hand. She hesitantly took it and said "I'm Blaise de Luca. Same to you." Haruhi smiled at her, then glared at the twins and went to take a seat.

Hikaru and Kaoru watched their friend go before continuing. "So, we noticed that you came to school today in normal clothes." Kaoru said.

"So we figured that you didn't have enough money to buy a uniform." Hikaru added.

"You know, in Music Room three, you can get the complete uniform for a cheaper price."

"You just need to stop by there after school ends."

"If you're interested. You should stop by."

"Well, class is about to start. See you later." They both said this as they waved and took seats on either side of Haruhi.

* * *

As lecture started, Blaise thought about what they said. She wasn't sure she trusted those shady twins, but she did need to find a way to buy the uniform quickly and at the cheapest price possible. Finally she sighed. _What do I have to lose?_

* * *

At three o'clock, Blaise was walking along the horrid pink halls of Ouran Academy once again. She had asked for directions to Music Room three and was now searching for it. She was just starting to think that she was lost when she looked down a hallway and spotted a sign that told her she had found what she was looking for.

She quickly walked over to the double doors and looked up at the sign above her that read "Music Room #3." _This must be it._

Slowly, she placed her hand on the handle. _I really hope they didn't trick me._

And, of course, they had.

Blaise turned the handle and pushed the door open. Then, to her surprise, she was showered with rose petals.

"Welcome." Blaise looked up, past the petals and was utterly confused. She saw seven guys, all wearing the Ouran Academy uniform. Six of them were standing around a blonde guy who was sitting in a chair. Among the six, Blaise could see the twins and Haruhi. All of the boys were smiling, but something about the twins similar smirks made Blaise want to bolt out the door.

The blonde one looked surprised. "It's a guy." He said. Blaise was backed against the door now, unsure of what to do.

"It appears so." A dark-haired one with glasses said, looking down at a notebook. "Tell me," he said without looking up, "are you the foreign exchange student from America, Blaise de Luca?"

Blaise nodded and said "Y-yes."

"That's French, isn't it?" The blonde one asked. Then he stood up and held his arms out. "Well, mon ami, we welcome you to our host club."

Blaise looked at him for a moment. "Host club?" she asked. The blonde one nodded. "What the hell is a host club?"

The blonde one froze for a moment. Blaise thought for a second that she had said something to upset him, but then he quickly strode over to her and began to speak. "In our host club, we use our good looks and attractive personalities to cater to young women's needs and entertain them. Of course, if you are interested, we can entertain gays as well."

Blaise took a step away from him. "Gays?" she asked.

"Of course. It is why you came here isn't it? You were interested in our little host club weren't you? Now tell me, what kind of type do you like? The cool-type? The boy-lolita? Or perhaps maybe . . . the princely-type?" As he said that last part, he whispered softly into Blaise's ear.

It sent shivers down her spine and she quickly backed away from him. That was when her back hit something. She glanced behind her and was none too pleased to see one of the twins. "Or maybe you're into the mischievous-type?" he asked. Blaise wasn't sure which one he was but that didn't matter because these boys were starting to creep her out.

Blaise backed away from the red head as his twin came up and put his arms around his brother's neck. "Of course, you may want to be careful around us. We may be gay too."

Blaise's face felt warm as she waved her hands in front of herself. "Wait. What are you talking about? Gay? I'm not gay!"

The blonde looked confused. "Well what are you then? Bi?"

"What? No! I just-!" Then a thought struck her. She looked down at her clothes. _They think I'm a guy._

The one with the glasses spoke up. "Tamaki? Did you ever stop to consider that this in another 'Haruhi situation?'"

The blonde, apparently Tamaki, looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean, Kyoya?"

Kyoya sighed. "Look at her closely."

"Her?" Tamaki asked. Then his eyes widened and he rushed over to Blaise. His face was inches from hers as he looked at her face. Blaise leaned back in discomfort. He was too close for her liking. The red heads rushed over and did the same as Tamaki.

They stared at her before asking at the same time "You're a girl?"

Blaise blinked. "Yes."

They stepped back. "I wonder how we didn't notice before." The twins asked each other. Then they looked at Blaise's chest. "Oh. It was her chest."

Blaise felt slightly insulted. "It's almost the same as Haruhi." One of them said. In the back, it could be heard that Haruhi grumbled something, but Blaise wasn't sure what.

"Yeah. Even though she has more up there than Haruhi, she still doesn't have much." The other answered.

Blaise couldn't take it anymore. "What is that supposed to mean?"

They both looked at her. "It means you're basically flat-chested."

Blaise figured that they knew some English so to be safe she cursed them in French. "Now, now. That wasn't a nice thing to say." Tamaki scolded her in the same tongue. Her eyes widened as she looked at him.

"What did you guys say, boss?" the twins asked. Tamaki looked like he might say something when Kyoya spoke up.

"Not that I wanted to interrupt or anything." Kyoya said. "But hosting hours are about to begin, so I suggest we all get ready."

Tamaki clapped his hands. "Alright, gentlemen. Today is the start of another year in the host club. Let's start off well!"

"Aye, aye!" the twins and a short blonde kid holding a stuffed rabbit stood in front of Tamaki, saluting him.

Then the kid with the stuffed rabbit walked over to Blaise. "Before you go, do you want to have some cake with me and Usa-chan?"

Blaise looked at him. Was he really in high school. "Um, thanks but no thanks. I should be going now."

The kid cocked his head. "But why did you come in the first place?" All of the hosts stopped to hear what she had to say.

In an irritated tone, she answered. "Well those shady twins told me that if I came here after school I could buy a cheap uniform."

"Hey, who you calling shady?" one of them shouted. "You're the girl who came to school dressed as a boy!"

A light bulb seemed to turn on over Tamaki's head. "You're tranvestic!" he said, his hand on his chin.

Blaise groaned. She adjusted the shoulder strap on her messenger bag and headed toward the door. Telling her dad to pick her up later was such a waste of time. She was about to put her hand on the doorknob when it seemed to turn of its own accord. Before Blaise knew it, the door burst open and a group of girls came in.

"Ah, ladies. Welcome to the Ouran High School Host Club. We are so glad that you could join us on the first day of the new school year." Tamaki greeted. The girls seemed to watch him transfixed.

"We're happy to be back, Tamaki." One of the girls said dreamily.

"Yeah." Another said. "And we're so happy that Honey and Mori could be here too."

"Yes, well" Tamaki said. "They told me that they simply could not stand to be away from you ladies as they went to university. So they agreed to come by whenever they weren't busy."

The girls cheered. That's when one of them noticed Blaise as she was about to leave. "Oh, is this a new member of the host club?" she asked.

Blaise froze as the girls crowded around her. "Hey, it's the first-year foreign exchange student!" one of them exclaimed.

Another gasped. "Oh! He's so good looking! He'd make a great edition!"

_Wow, even these girls think I'm a guy. _Blaise put her hands in front of her. "No, uh, you see. I'm-."

Then she was gone. The girls blinked. They didn't know where she had gone. Little did they know that she had been whisked away to the back room by the host club king and the shady twins.

Blaise was confused when she saw that she was in another room. Then she realized how it had been done when she looked up and saw Tamaki and the Hitachiin brothers in front of her.

Tamaki and the twins looked at each other. "I guess we had the same idea, huh boss?" one of the twins said.

Tamaki nodded. "I think so. We all want Blaise to be a member of the host club so that Haruhi can finally have a girl friend."

"I don't want to be Haruhi's girlfriend!" Blaise said blushing.

"No, you idiot, Haruhi is a girl too. He meant that he wanted Haruhi to have a friend that was a girl." One of the twins said.

Blaise crossed her arms. "Well excuse me." _That explained a lot._

"Hikaru, be nice." Kaoru, as Blaise had deduced him to be, said.

Hikaru crossed his arms. "Well she called us shady. It's bad enough that the boss calls us that." So it was Hikaru that had called her shady.

"Still." Kaoru continued. "Anyway, that was not the idea we had in mind, Tamaki-senpai."

"Yeah. Our idea wasn't as ridiculous as yours." Hikaru said. "We wanted to see if Blaise would actually make a good host."

Tamaki stomped his foot repeatedly. "My idea was not ridiculous! It's only natural that, as Haruhi's father, I wanted her to make better friends than you two." _Father?_

"What's that supposed to mean?" the twins said loudly,

Tamaki was about to say something when Kyoya opened the door. "What are you morons doing?" he asked in an irritated voice. "The guests are waiting."

"Kyoya-senpai," Kaoru began. "We wanted to see if Blaise would make a good host."

"No." Tamaki cut in. "We want her to be a host so that she and Haruhi can become friends." Blaise was really starting to like how they were talking about her like she wasn't there.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, letting a glare fall over them. "That's actually not a bad idea. With Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai off at university, they won't be here all the time and we'll be short on hosts. Also, Blaise seems to be quite popular with the ladies so she should bring in more publicity."

"Wait. Who said I wanted to become a host?" Blaise cut in.

Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru stared at her, as if realizing that she was there, but Kyoya seemed prepared for what she said. "You came here to buy uniforms, correct? If you become a host and work off the cost, we can give you two uniforms free of charge."

Blaise considered the deal. The complete uniform was about 300,000 yen. She didn't have that kind of money. She was sure her parents could pay for it, but her dad was already partly struggling with money and she had asked her mom to give her no financial help whatsoever.

Blaise sighed, deciding to go with her final option. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Yay!" Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki cheered, but for different reasons. Then the twins disappeared and reappeared with a uniform on a hanger.

"Here, try this on." They said.

Blaise took it. "Fine." She said.

"And maybe take off the glasses." Kaoru said.

"Yeah, glasses are-." Hikaru began.

"What about glasses-types?" Kyoya asked with a smile.

The twins stared at him, then waved their hands in front of themselves. "Nothing." They said quickly.

Blaise sighed as she went behind the curtain to change.

* * *

"So, Blaise, what kind of hobbies do you have? What kind of things do you like to do?" a girl sitting across from Blaise asked.

Blaise thought about it for a moment, then said. "Well, I like to go outside. I mostly like to take walks, I find nature very soothing."

"Really, well what do you do when you're not doing that?"

"Well, I live with my dad right now and, with the rest of my family in America, he's kinda having a hard time, so I try to help him out."

"Blaise, can I ask a question? Why is it that you always sit in the back by yourself during classes?"

"When I came here, I didn't really know anyone and I guess I'm just a little nervous to talk to anyone, especially ladies as pretty as you girls."

That's when the ladies fell in love. "Do you think we could request you tomorrow, Blaise?"

Blaise blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah. I'd really like that."

Over on a nearby couch, Tamaki was watching Blaise over the back and he was squirming in his seat excitedly. "Oh, she's so cute!" he doted.

"Yeah, just don't rush over there and hug her. I know I wouldn't want that." Haruhi said as she passed, holding a tray with tea on it.

"But it's so tempting!" Tamaki whined. "It reminds me of my little Haruhi's first day!"

"Yeah. She's really good at this." Hikaru said as he stood behind the couch Tamaki was sitting on. "Who knew that when we introduced her as a host, girls had already developed an interest in her?"

"She seemed really standoffish during classes, always sitting in the back corner, but she's really pulling this off." Kaoru said, standing next to his brother. "She's hesitant and shy when she speaks so the ladies find that cute, and her tendency to be alone gives her a mysterious air."

"That kinda makes her sound like the silent-type." Hikaru said.

"But Mori-senpai has that covered." Tamaki said. "So what could we classify her as?"

They thought about it for a while until Kyoya said. "How about the loner-type?"

Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki all looked at him. "Loner-type?"

"Yes. She tends to be alone as you say, but she's not as quiet as Mori-senpai is. She speaks to people, just not in a way that suggests she does it all the time."

Tamaki and the twins all looked at Blaise as she carried a tray to a table, their hands on their chins. "It just might work."

* * *

After hosting hours ended. Blaise grabbed her bag and put it over her shoulder.

"Well that was a good first day." Tamaki said to her. Blaise looked up and saw that the whole host club was gathered around her.

"I guess it was." Blaise said. "But I guess I should be thanking you, Suou-senpai, for the uniform, seeing that you are the president."

Tamaki put his hands together and said with his eyes closed "Oh please, use my first name. I think I speak for everyone when I say that. We will be spending a lot of time together so we might as well be friendly."

"Uh, thanks." She said, a little unsure of herself. Then she waved and left. As she closed the doors behind her, Blaise sighed. _Glad that's over. For now anyway._

She walked along the halls and went outside, where her dad's car was waiting.

"So, how was your first day?" Her dad asked as she slid into the car.

Blaise closed the door and leaned her head against her headrest, her eyes closed. "Very, very long."

**A/N: So, what did you guys think? Please leave me reviews, they make me really happy, just so you know. Please also favorite and review and I will see you next time . . . hopefully . . . if you're still interested in my story.**


	3. Chapter 3: Dancing and More Debt

Chapter 3: Dancing and More Debt

**A/N: Yay! So here's chapter three. I had a little writer's block so I hope I did alright. I also think that I may be making my chapters a little too long but they just don't feel right if they are shorter. Anyway, enjoy!**

It had been about a week since Blaise had become a host. Within that time, she attempted to get used to girls fawning over her. She _was_ straight after all, despite what Tamaki thought. She also tried to get used to being a "gentlemanly" host. Before now, she had never dealt with people very often so she was not very accustomed to it.

Being a host was not exactly thrilling for Blaise. She would have rather used the time to be at home doing homework or something. However, she knew that she needed the uniforms that the host club was letting her work for and she couldn't think of another way to pay for them. Apparently, she had to get one hundred individual guests to request her. Tamaki told her about her quota on her second day and she was none too thrilled about it, but at least she knew the goal that she had to work for.

On this particular day, we find the hosts in Music Room three going about their usual business. It was near the end of hosting hours when Tamaki clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone, I would like to make an announcement." The blonde said standing up. "I am happy to officially invite you all to a dance that the Ouran Host Club is holding this Sunday night. You may invite your friends and dates if you so wish, but I would like to remind you that all of the hosts will be there for your entertainment."

All of the girls started buzzing with excitement at the news, talking about what they should wear and who they would invite.

"A dance?" Blaise asked aloud.

"Yeah." One of her guests, Mei, answered her. "The Host Club occasionally has dances and balls. They are always so lovely and a lot of fun. The musicians play pretty classical pieces. It will be great that you will be at them from now on." She finished with a smile.

_So it's a formal thing, huh? _Blaise wasn't too thrilled about it, but she smiled at Mei and responded. "That sounds really fun. I look forward to seeing you ladies there." The girls sitting at the table smiled and blushed. Then they waved goodbye as Kyoya announced the end of hosting hours.

When her guests were gone, Blaise stood up and stretched. Did she really have to go to the dance? It's not like she wanted to. "Since when were we holding a dance?" she asked in general, not caring who answered.

"For a while now." Kyoya answered, typing who knew what on his computer. "Dances are always popular among the guests and, when we ask them to invite friends, we usually end up with more guests later on, especially if the event is at the beginning of the school year."

_As calculating as ever. _Blaise thought to herself once Kyoya had answered her. She had started to notice that it was Kyoya that did all of the calculated decisions in the club. Without him, Tamaki would spend so much that the host club would have gone belly up ages ago.

"You _are_ coming, right, Blaise-chan?" Honey asked, walking up to Blaise with Mori in tow.

She was about to ask if she had to when the twins came up to her, looking at her face. "Something tells us that you don't want to." They said.

"It might be the ugly look on your face . . . or that just might be your face." Blaise scowled at the twin who said that to her. She was pretty sure this was Hikaru. For some reason, he and Blaise hadn't hit it off right when they had first met and now he always had some smart assed comment to say to her. She usually had one for him in return but she didn't feel like giving one at the moment.

She ignored him instead and said "Dances aren't really my forte. I prefer staying at home to going out to one."

"Wow. You sound just as lazy as Haruhi." Hikaru said.

"Thanks, Hikaru." Haruhi grumbled as she walked by, clearing away tea sets.

"Is it that you don't know how to dance?" Kaoru asked her.

"Well . . ." Blaise began before the host king himself butt into the conversation.

"We can fix that!" Tamaki said cheerily. "There's no need to worry. Starting tomorrow you will not see any guests until the dance so you can work on your dancing skills!"

"But I don't really want to go." Blaise said, picking up her messenger bag.

"But the whole host club is supposed to be there, right, Takashi?" Honey chirped.

"Yeah." was all Mori said.

"You can't back out now!" Tamaki said. "We already have everything planned out!" Blaise gave a quick "not interested" and Tamaki was soon crouched in a corner.

Kyoya amusedly glanced at Tamaki before turning his attention to Blaise. "It's true, Blaise. You cannot avoid going. We have already rented what you are to wear that night. If you don't come, the rent will be wasted and we will have to increase your debt."

Blaise stared at him. He was so manipulative it almost scared her. She looked around at the other hosts. Then sighed and drooped her head. "Fine." She said.

Tamaki was suddenly at her side, his hand on her shoulder. "Great!" he said. "Now remember you have lessons starting tomorrow. Don't be late!"

"Yeah, yeah" Blaise said tiredly. "See you guys tomorrow." She said before opening and closing the door to their clubroom behind her.

"I'm kinda disappointed." Honey said, now on Mori's shoulders.

"Why is that, Honey-senpai?" Tamaki asked.

Honey rested his folded arms atop Mori's head. "At the dance, Blaise-chan will have to dress up like us. She won't get to wear a dress. I think she'd look cute in a nice dress, don't you, Takashi?"

"Yeah." Mori said. The twins heard this. Then they looked at each other and smirked.

Haruhi caught their evil looks and sighed. "Oh no."

* * *

The next day, the hosts, all except for Blaise, arrived as normal and catered to their guests. She arrived on time, of course. She didn't want Tamaki to pull her into a crushing hug and ask why she was late. Instead of hosting, Blaise was in a corner of the room, with her guest, Mei. Somehow it had been decided that Mei would be giving her dancing lessons.

Blaise placed her bag in a nearby chair and walked over to Mei. "Hi, Blaise." Mei said shyly as Blaise approached.

Blaise smiled. "Hello, Mei. I'm glad that I could spend today with you so you could teach me. I'm sure you're a great teacher and can dance well."

Mei blushed. "Oh, I wouldn't say that, but I'll do my best." Mei went over to the table where Blaise had put her bag and pressed the play button on a radio. Classical, violin music began to play softly. Mei went back to Blaise and they took their respective positions to waltz.

Across the room, Hikaru was watching Blaise dance. He had expected her to be terrible, but to his surprise, she was doing fairly well and that bothered him. She was a commoner just like Haruhi. She wasn't supposed to know the basics of their high society world.

"Hey, Kaoru." Hikaru whispered to his brother.

"Yeah?" Kaoru asked, looking at Hikaru.

"Do you see the way Blaise is dancing?"

Kaoru looked over at the girl, what he saw puzzled him. "Yeah. It looks like she's done it before. Her form isn't perfect, but she at least looks experienced."

They watched her for a while. Their guests noticed their divided attention. "Hikaru, Kaoru?" One of them asked. "Is something wrong?"

The twins were suddenly on either side of her. "Oh yes. Something is wrong." Kaoru said. "We think you may have captured our hearts."

Hikaru quickly walked around to his brother. The older twin put one arm around his younger brother's waist and put his other hand on his cheek. "No, Kaoru, I can't allow that. I am the only one that should have your heart and you're the only one that should have mine."

Kaoru looked up into his brother's eyes. "Oh, Hikaru." The girls around them squealed to themselves. Blaise saw this "touching" scene between the twins over Mei's shoulder. She rolled her eyes and continued to waltz.

* * *

As Kyoya announced the end of hosting hours, Mei and Blaise parted. Blaise smiled. "Thank you, Mei. I learned a lot from you today."

Mei shyly looked at the ground. "It was no problem, Blaise. I'm glad I could help, but you seemed like you were doing fine on your own."

Blaise rubbed a hand behind her head. "Really? I thought things were going well because you were leading."

Mei blushed. "Well, hosting hours are over. I'll see you tomorrow, Blaise."

"Bye." Blaise said. When Mei was gone, Blaise went over to the table. Her hand hovered over the stop button. She listened to the music for a few seconds, letting the notes consume her, before turning it off.

"Hey, what was that about?" Hikaru asked from behind her.

She turned to look at him. "What?"

"When you were dancing. It looked like you had done it before." Kaoru said.

Blaise looked at them for a moment. "My mom made me take lessons as a kid. I haven't danced in a while though."

"Oh. Ok." Kaoru said.

"Well. I should get going. See you guys." Then, they watched as Blaise left.

* * *

"Hello and welcome." Kyoya said from the balcony in Ouran's great hall the night of the dance. "We are happy that you could all make it this evening. Please enjoy yourselves and have fun. The hosts will be here to entertain you whenever you need us."

There was some clapping and the music began. Blaise walked down the grand staircase with the other hosts, not looking forward to dancing. She hated these kind of events and just wanted to go home. She definitely wasn't thrilled when she was immediately asked to dance as she reached the main floor. However, she smiled and agreed to dance.

She was surprised at the number of girls that wanted to dance with her, she was kind of pissed that Kyoya wasn't counting them in with her quota. Blaise barely got a break as the night went on. When she finally did, she leaned against a column with a sigh, her arms crossed.

Hikaru and Kaoru noticed Blaise had stopped dancing, so they waltzed over to her, and of course, they were dancing with each other. Hikaru was the man and Kaoru was the woman so Hikaru led them across the room, making girls swoon as they passed.

As the twins danced in front of her, Blaise raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing." Kaoru said simply as Hikaru twirled him.

"What did you think people did at dances, Blaise? Play hopscotch?" Hikaru asked.

Blaise sighed. "Yes. And they also play jump rope and kick the can."

"You're not very smart are you?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm sorry, but who failed his recent foreign language test?" Blaise asked with a smirk. Hikaru made a grunting sound and shut up. Blaise watched them for a minute. "Why do you guys have to dance together? All the girls are staring."

"Because we're hopelessly in love with each other, Blaise. Isn't it obvious?" Kaoru asked.

Hikaru pulled Kaoru closer to himself as he said "Besides, I could never let anyone but myself touch my Kaoru. He's safest in my arms."

Blaise scoffed and was about to walk away when she came face to face with Mei. "Hi, Blaise." Mei said.

Blaise looked at her before smiling. "Hello, Mei. I'm glad you could make it today. You look very pretty in that dress."

Mei blushed. "Thank you." She paused for a moment before asking "Do you think that I could have the next dance with you?"

"Sure." Blaise said, holding out her hand. _Anything to get away from those twins._

Mei took Blaise's hand and they began to waltz. "So, what do you think of the dance?"

Blaise thought about it before saying "Honestly, it's a little overwhelming for me. But you were right, the musicians play beautiful music."

"Yes. I always thought so. By the way, I always noticed that you seemed to be lost in the music when I was teaching you how to dance."

Blaise shrugged. "I don't know. Something about music just consumes me. You know?"

They continued their conversation as they waltzed. As they danced, they got close to a table that held one of those tall beverage pyramids. Blaise never understood those. How were you supposed to get the drinks? As Mei spoke to her, Blaise noticed a tremor go through the liquid in the glasses. _What was that? _Then she realized what was going on just as the glasses began to topple over.

"Look out!" Blaise shouted. She pulled Mei toward her and turned so that she was in between Mei and the tower. With a loud crash, the glasses fell on them. Blaise and Mei fell as glass and beverage went everywhere. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched in terror.

Mei was unsure of what happened as she opened her eyes. Above her, she saw Blaise, one eye closed and the other squinted as she looked down. Blaise was supporting herself on her hands and knees over Mei to protect her.

"Are you alright?" Blaise asked, wiping what she thought was punch from Mei's cheek with her thumb.

Mei looked up shocked. "Me?" she asked. "What about you?"

Blaise shrugged, then winced when she felt the places where the glass had cut through her clothes and into her skin.

Meanwhile, Kyoya was quickly giving orders to the other hosts. "Mori-senpai, carefully take Blaise to get her treated. Haruhi, they'll need your help, go with them. Tamaki, check on Ms. Mei. It doesn't look like she was injured but make sure she is alright."

Kyoya continued to try and clear up what happened as Mori went over to where Blaise and Mei were lying. He gently scooped Blaise up and carried her through the door Haruhi was holding open. Tamaki, carefully avoiding the glass, quickly went over to Mei and held his hand out to her. "Are you alright, mademoiselle?" He asked worriedly.

Mei shakily took his hand and he helped her stand. "Yes." Mei answered. "But what about Blaise? Is he alright."

"Don't worry." Tamaki said. "He's with Mori-senpai and Haruhi. They'll take good care of him."

In the hallway, Mori briskly walked to Music Room three, Haruhi at his heels. They walked through the empty clubroom to the room in the back. There, Mori gently set Blaise down behind a curtain and left her there with Haruhi.

"Are you ok?" Haruhi asked worriedly.

"Yeah, just a few scratches." Blaise answered.

Haruhi went around to Blaise's back to take a look. "You're bleeding." Haruhi reported. "You'll need to take your shirt and your pants off so I can treat it."

Blaise felt her face heat up. "Uh, alright." Blaise felt awkward as Haruhi helped her undress. It hurt to do it by herself so she needed help. She felt overexposed as she stood there in her underwear. She was at least glad that, when Aldric had switched their suitcases, he had been decent enough to leave her with women's underwear in her size.

Blaise stood there, her body tense as Haruhi set to work, using a first aid kit that they had stored in the room. First, Haruhi had to remove the glass that had embedded itself into Blaise's skin. Blaise clenched her teeth as Haruhi removed the shards with tweezers. Then, when that was over, Haruhi had to use antiseptic wash to clean the wounds. Blaise whimpered in pain when the cloth touched her skin. Haruhi quickly apologized and finished as fast as she could. Lastly, Haruhi took some bandages and wrapped the wounds. The bandages ended up covering Blaise's torso, her hands, her right thigh, and her left calf.

"There, that should do it." Haruhi said when she tied off the last bandage. I'm going to find something else for you to wear, ok?"

"Ok." Blaise said. "Thanks, Haruhi." A few days ago, Haruhi had given her permission to just call her and the twins (with some convincing to the boys in question) by their first names only, seeing as how they really weren't Blaise's upperclassmen.

A few minutes later, Haruhi came in with a small bag. "This is the only thing we could find." Haruhi said, handing the bag over.

Blaise peeked inside. "Great." She said in a tired voice.

* * *

"We are sorry to have worried you." Kyoya said. "Our host, Blaise was not severely injured and will be rejoining us shortly. Unfortunately his attire is a little . . . different from what it was earlier but we could not acquire anything better. Please continue to enjoy yourselves for the rest of the evening."

Slowly, conversation and dancing continued along with the music and, before long, Blaise entered the hall, followed by Haruhi. Blaise was not very thrilled with her outfit, it was worse than the one she was wearing earlier, but there was nothing she could do about it.

They were on the balcony, where the other hosts were waiting for them. Tamaki rushed up to Blaise and spun her around in a hug. Blaise was glad that Haruhi had tied the bandages tightly or else Tamaki's hug would have really hurt. "Are you alright, Blaise? Do you hurt anymore? Daddy was _so _worried about his little girl! Don't you ever scare him like that again!"

"I'm alright, Tamaki-senpai." Blaise answered in a tired voice. "And since when were you my dad? I already have one. I don't need two." This made Tamaki go into a corner.

"You look cute, Blaise-chan!" Honey said from Mori's shoulders.

"Thanks." Blaise said, none too enthusiastically. She looked at Mori. "By the way, Mori-senpai, thanks for carrying me." Even though Tamaki had told her to call the hosts by their respective first names, she didn't think that he had the authority to say that for Honey and Mori so she just called them what everyone else did.

"No problem." Mori said.

Blaise sighed. "I think I'll just sit down for the rest of the day. I'm exhausted." She said walking away.

"Oh, Blaise, just so you know." Kyoya said to her as she reached the staircase. He was writing in a notebook as he spoke. "Those glasses and the beverage inside them weren't cheap. Also, the outfit you wore and the one you are wearing now cost twice as much. On top of that, Ms. Mei's dress was ruined and I will need to send her an apology bouquet. Where do you think this money will come from?"

Blaise stopped to look at him incredulously. "You're going to make me pay for it? You've got to be kidding me!"

Kyoya smiled and pushed his glasses up, a glare fell across them. "Do I look like the type to kid?"

Blaise looked at Haruhi. Haruhi just sent her a sympathetic look. Blaise groaned and went down the stairs. People began to stare at her as they figured out what Kyoya mean about Blaise's outfit. Blaise was now wearing a green dress. It was simple, yet elegant from the lace straps on her shoulders, to the flowing skirt that ended at her ankles.

Blaise got down to the floor and sat down at a nearby table. She rubbed her hand on her temple, just wanting to go home.

"Uh, Blaise?" Blaise looked up to see Mei.

"Oh, Mei. How are you?"

"I'm ok. But what about you?"

"That's good. I'm better now thanks to Haruhi." There was a short, awkward silence between them as Mei fingered her dress. Blaise noticed what Kyoya meant about it being ruined. Stains where along the hem and parts of it were ripped by the glass. "I'm sorry about your dress." Blaise said.

Mei shook her head. "No, no, it's ok. It's just a dress. I'm just glad you're alright. I wanted to thank you for protecting me earlier."

Blaise shook her head. "I was just doing the right thing. Anyway, I think you should go out and enjoy yourself. I'm really tired now, and I can't dance at the moment so I won't be much fun."

Mei hesitated before nodding. Then she blushed as she said. "And, um, just so you know, you look cute in a dress. Almost like a girl."

Blaise smiled and said "thanks," but inside she thought tiredly "I am a girl." As Mei walked away, the twins walked up to Blaise's joy.

"She's right you know. You look nice for once." Hikaru told her.

"Thanks." She answered dully.

"So, what do you think of the dress?" Kaoru asked.

"It's from our mother's line." Hikaru added.

"We thought it would look nice on you." Kaoru continued.

"It's nice I-." She stopped. The way they said that made her think. She looked up at them. "You planned this didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked innocently.

"How could we have planned something like that?" Kaoru asked.

"Well, we should be going." Hikaru said. Then he and his brother walked away, arm in arm. Blaise stared after them. They really were evil. She sat back in her chair. Whether they had planned that or not, Blaise would probably never know.

**A/N: There, how was that? It was a host club dance after all so something like that had to happen. Please review and tell me what you think, I am dying to know! I hope you liked it. See you next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Love Letter?

Chapter 4: A Love Letter?

**A/N: Yay! Here's my next chapter. I wonder if it's any good. Anyway, I want to thank you people who followed, favorited, and reviewed so far. Love you guys! If you haven't done any of these things yet, you may want to soon before you find arsenic in your food . . . Enjoy!**

It was a few days after the dance and things were carrying on as usual . . . for the most part. For Blaise, everything was crazy. Apparently, word about her little accident at the dance had spread like wildfire. She was getting more requests at the host club and students at almost every turn were asking her about it. She wasn't too thrilled about this though, it just meant more people for her to deal with.

Today, we find her walking into her first class a little earlier than usual. Her dad's car broke down and was in the shop so she just decided to leave home early and walk to school. She was relieved to see that not many students had arrived yet so she gratefully sat at her desk in the back by herself. She placed her messenger bag beside her and took a notebook and mechanical pencil out like she normally did. Then, she crossed her arms and legs and began to stare out the window. She was positioning herself in her chair to get comfortable when her knee brushed past something.

Blaise looked at the place her knee had just been. It had felt like paper, but she didn't see anything. She leaned forward so that she looked at the floor under her desk. _Nothing there. _Then she looked at the underside of her desk and saw a white piece of paper taped to it. Now that she saw it, she realized that the corner of it was beyond the edge of the desk and that was what she had felt. _What's this? _Blaise slid her finger under the edge of the paper and pulled it up. It felt too thick to be just a piece of paper. Holding it up so she could look at it, she noticed that it was an envelope. _What the heck is this doing here? _She held it in one hand and flipped it over, trying to see if maybe she could give this to whoever it was meant for. She froze when she saw her name written on the front. _What the . . .?_

Blaise slid her index finger under the flap to open it. _Who the hell wrote me a letter? _The envelope opened with a small ripping sound and Blaise took out the neatly folded piece of paper that was inside. Opening it, she read:

_Dear Blaise,_

_I just want to say that I have been watching you for some time and you caught my eye._ _I think I may have fallen in love with you! You're so quiet and mysterious yet so kind and polite to me! My heart beats so fast when I'm near you, that it feels like it may beat out of my chest. My feelings for you are beyond anything that I've ever felt before! No words can describe this whirlwind of emotions that I feel inside! I can't keep this to myself any longer, if I do I may burst! I must know if you feel the same way. Please meet me by the pond after hosting hours tomorrow. I will be excitedly waiting there for you!_

Blaise stared at the paper, a furious blush creeping its way up her neck and to her ears and cheeks. _What the hell is this?! Someone has a crush on me? _Well the letter made that plainly obvious. The writing was in pink and hearts and glitter covered all possible white spots on the page.

_Who could this be? _Blaise frantically thought about it in her head before a certain fact finally registered in her head. She _was _pretending to be a guy at this school so . . .

_I'm probably being hit on by a _girl! _Or a gay guy . . . but still! _Blaise rested her head in her arms. How was she supposed to handle this? She was straight, dammit! What was she supposed to do?

"What are you doing?" Two familiar voices asked from behind her.

"Ah!" Blaise was taken by surprise. This made her jump and fall out of her chair and onto the floor.

"Well that was graceful." Hikaru said, his voice laced with sarcasm. The twins watched as Blaise scrambled to face them, still on the floor. Kaoru noticed that she hid something behind her.

"What's that behind your back?" The younger twin asked.

"Nothing!" Blaise said quickly, obviously sounding guilty.

The twins grinned evilly. "What is it?" They asked, leaning down.

"I told you! It's nothing!" Blaise said, backing away on her hands and knees. No way in hell was she showing them that she got a love letter.

"You know that just makes us want to see it even more." Hikaru deadpanned.

"You might as well show us now." Kaoru said. "We'll know eventually. We always find a way to get what we want."

"I'm not hiding anything!" Blaise lied desperately.

"Come on, you two. Knock it off." Haruhi walked over and saved the day. "If she doesn't want to show you something she won't show it to you."

"But, Haruhi!" The twins whined.

"Just sit down already. Class is starting soon."

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other before sighing dejectedly and walking past Haruhi toward their seats, but as they passed her, they looked at each other again and grinned mischievously.

Blaise sighed as her body relaxed. She looked up to see Haruhi holding a hand out to her. "Thanks, Haruhi." Blaise said as she took the other girl's hand.

"No problem." Haruhi said, pulling Blaise off of the floor. "Those two can really get on my nerves too so I understand." The girls smiled at each other before sitting down at their respective desks as the teacher walked in.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Blaise couldn't help but think of the letter. It haunted her from her first class through hosting hours and beyond. She couldn't help but look at every girl (and possibly gay guy) she passed, wondering if they were the one who sent her the letter. Even during hosting hours she studied each of her guests, wondering if they were the culprit. She even thought about it on her way home from school. She almost got hit by a bicyclist because her mind was so occupied.

When Blaise got home, she smelled dinner cooking as soon as she opened the door. "Hey, dad. I'm home." Blaise sad tiredly, taking off her shoes and placing them by the door.

"Oh. Hey, Blaise. How was school?" Blaise groaned in response to her dad's question. "It sounds like it was good." Her dad said.

"Yeah. I wish." Blaise mumbled as she sat at their breakfast bar, watching her dad cook. "What are you cooking?" She asked.

"Salmon. Does that sound ok?"

"Yeah. It smells good."

"Good. Well Aldric called earlier. He said that he wanted to video chat with you when you got home."

Blaise's mood brightened slightly. "Ok. I guess I'll be in my room then."

"Alright. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"'Kay." Blaise said as she trudged upstairs. She went into her room and grabbed some stuff so that she could take a bath first. She would have just called Aldric immediately but then she would have to explain her uniform. She hadn't told Aldric that she was posing as a boy at school or that she was a host at the host club either. He would flip if he found out.

Blaise took a quick bath and dressed in a black, cotton t-shirt and cargo shorts. She was drying her hair with a towel as she sat on her floor and called her brother. The laptop made a ringing sound like a telephone and before long Aldric's face appeared.

"Hey, Aldric." Blaise said.

"You're part of the host club?!"

Blaise sighed, her secret was out. "How did you find out?" she asked tiredly.

"From dad of course!" Aldric said loudly as he brushed his hair. Blaise couldn't help but notice the frilly red blouse he was wearing. "Why is it that I have to find out about my sister's life from someone other than my sister? Why don't you tell me these things, Blaise-chan? Dad even had to tell me about how you got hurt at a dance a few days ago."

"Oh, that?" Blaise asked, holding up her hands for her brother to see. The bandages were smaller now. "That was nothing." When Blaise had come home the night of the dance, her dad had instantly asked her what had happened. He looked worried the whole time she told him the story and it had taken Blaise a while to assure him that she was fine.

"No it wasn't! A bunch of glass fell on you!" Aldric yelled. "How did that happen anyway?"

"I have my suspicions." An evil aura seemed to surround Blaise for a moment. "But anyway, I'm fine, really."

"If you say so." Aldric said before clasping his hands together and saying in a dreamy voice. "Oh, but still. I'm jealous of you! You were at a dance with _the _host club of Ouran Academy! I would have given anything to be there too! At a dance with those boys." Then Aldric made a weird purring noise that sent a shiver down Blaise's spine.

"Aldric, don't do that! That really creeps me out. I have to spend a lot of time with those guys."

"But they're _so _good-looking! And you're one of them now too. I told you that you were hot."

"Aldric, please!" Blaise could feel her neck growing hot.

"Alright. Fine, fine, fine, I won't say anything about that anymore. Though, you should thank me. Because of my brilliant 'switch the suitcases' plan you may find a nice boyfriend."

"Yeah, I don't think so." She looked away from the computer screen and at her bag that was next to her. That's when she noticed the piece of paper sticking out of it. "Oh." She said pulling it out. "Aldric, can you help me with something? I have a slight problem."

Aldric suddenly looked excited. "Ooo, you want my help? Anything for you, Blaise-chan!"

Blaise now held the love letter in her hand. She didn't want to read it aloud, she felt embarrassed. So she held the piece of paper up to the computer screen for Aldric to read on his own. It only took Aldric a moment to read the words on the paper before he squealed excitedly.

"Ooo! Someone has a crush on you! Do you know who it is?"

"No." Blaise said, putting the paper down. "There was no name."

"Well I think you should go." Aldric said, now putting on makeup. "You might end up getting into a relationship."

"No!" Blaise said, throwing her arms into the air. "You do realize that people think that I'm a guy right? This was probably sent by a girl and I'm straight, unlike you."

"Whatever do you mean by that, Blaise-chan?" Aldric asked innocently, obviously playing dumb.

"Oh please." Blaise said exasperatedly. "I've seen you hit on girls before and what you just said about the host club is not helping your case at all."

Aldric purposefully ignored what his sister just said and asked. "So what are you going to do about the letter?"

Blaise was kind of pissed that Aldric ignored her but she went on to answer his question. "I'm not looking for a relationship, Aldric, nor do I have feelings for anyone. That's kinda what I wanted your help with. What should I do?"

"Hm." Aldric thought for a moment. "If that's how you feel then you will just have to turn this person down."

"But how do I do that? You know I'm not good with people!"

"Just turn them down gently. Tell them what you told me. You're not looking for a relationship right now but you were flattered by what they had to say."

"How do you know if I'm flattered?" Blaise challenged.

Aldric smirked. "I'm your sister. I can see it written all over your face."

Blaise grunted. She hated that Aldric could see through her so easily. To get him back she quickly said "Brother."

"Am not!" Aldric said loudly, stomping his foot. He snapped his makeup case shut and stood up. "Well, your darling _sister _must be off now, Blaise-chan. I have class this morning."

"You're going to go in that?" She asked, gesturing to his blouse and black dress skirt.

"Yeah! Don't I look cute?" Aldric asked. As he said this he bent one of his legs at the knee so his foot was in the air. When he did that, Blaise saw that he was also wearing black high heels.

"Sure." Blaise said flatly. "But you know, mom is probably going to make you change when she sees you."

Aldric winked at her. "I'm hoping that I'll sneak past her."

"Good luck with that. Well, have a good day at classes then."

"I will! And good luck with your love letter!"

Blaise sighed. "Thanks." With that, they hung up.

* * *

The next day, during hosting hours, it was the flower viewing reception so the host club was outdoors. Only six hosts were available that day because Mori and Honey had started going to classes that week.

"So what do you think of the flowers, my princess?" Tamaki asked one of his guests as he gestured to the cherry blossoms.

"I think they're really pretty. They always look this way at this time of year."

"Yes, I agree. That's why we have this reception. But I think that we should have a reception viewing you, for these flowers could never compare to your yearlong beauty."

"Oh, Tamaki. You really think so?" The girl asked with a smile, her cheeks were slightly red. The other girls around him were squealing.

One of Blaise's guests heard this and decided to ask "What about you, Blaise? What do you think about the flowers?"

Blaise was walking by as she said this. She stopped when she was asked this question and smiled. She pulled a low hanging branch toward her, holding it delicately in her hand. "I think they are really pretty. We don't have cherry blossoms where I lived in America. I'm really glad that I could see them." Blaise was smiling as she gently fingered a cherry blossom. She was looking at it intently, with a serene look on her face. Her guests sighed as they watched her in adoration.

"We see them every year, but they are still really stunning." Kaoru said, looking around at the flowers that surrounded them.

Hikaru suddenly put a finger under his brother's chin and tilted it so Kaoru was looking up at him. "True, but none of them could compare to you, Kaoru."

As all of the girls looked at the twins with apprehension, Blaise and Haruhi looked at each other before rolling their eyes. They quietly laughed together before continuing their hosting duties.

As hosting hours were coming closer and closer to an end, Blaise couldn't help but feel more and more apprehensive. All day, she had been going through how to turn down a girl in her mind. Never before had she thought that this would be something that she would worry about. But here she was, stressing over it.

"Kyoya-senpai, what are we going to do about the physical exams?" Kaoru asked.

Blaise looked over at them. "Physical exams?"

"They are mandatory for students to take." Kyoya said. "You ask because of Blaise and Haruhi, right? Well they will just see a doctor sworn to secrecy. Same as last year. It's as simple as that."

"That's good." Hikaru said. "Hopefully it won't be a big scene like last year."

"What happened last year?" Blaise asked, curious.

"They all started to freak out because they had no idea how to hide my gender." Haruhi said. "Then certain . . . things . . . happened."

"Like what?" Blaise asked. She was asking because she was curious and because she wanted something to take her mind off of the love letter. Haruhi then explained the antics of last year's physical exams. Blaise laughed when Haruhi was finished. "That sounded eventful. Tamaki-senpai actually tried to pose as you?"

"I was tricked by those twins!" Tamaki suddenly yelled. "Don't you feel sorry for me?"

Blaise looked at him. "No. I think it's hilarious. You should have seen it coming, senpai." Tamaki went into a corner. Blaise noticed that he did that a lot.

Soon after that, Kyoya announced the end of hosting hours. Girls said their goodbyes and left.

"Haruhi, where are you going?" Tamaki asked as Haruhi began to follow the girls.

"I need to go somewhere. See you later." She said before leaving quickly.

Blaise suddenly remembered that she had somewhere to be as well. "Oh, me too." She said, grabbing her bag. "Bye, guys." She rushed toward the school. Stopping in the courtyard, Blaise began to wonder where the pond was. Then she remembered that you could see it from the hallway that led to Music Room three.

She quickly went around the building to where the host club's clubroom was. There, she saw a pond with a peeing cupid statue in the middle. _Charming. _Then she saw someone standing on the other side of the pond. To Blaise's dismay, it was a person in the male uniform. _So it_ is _a gay guy. _Nervously, Blaise made her way over to him. She tried not to look at him as she did so.

"Blaise?" A surprised voice greeted her.

Blaise looked up. "Ha-Haruhi?" she asked, for it turns out it was Haruhi standing there. Blaise was surprised. _Haruhi sent the letter? She's lesbian?_

The girls looked at each other. "I was starting to think you wouldn't show up." Haruhi said nervously.

Blaise smiled, awkwardly. "Well, I'm here." Blaise felt really awkward about this. She was flattered that Haruhi liked her but Blaise just wanted to be friends. "So . . . about the love letter . . ."

"Yeah. About that." Haruhi said. Both of them obviously felt weird about the situation.

"I don't feel the same way." Confused, both girls looked at each other. They had said that at the same time.

"What are you talking about? You sent me a letter." Blaise said, holding up said item.

"No. You sent me one." Haruhi held up a similar piece of paper.

"What? No I didn't." Blaise said. Both girls were confused. They didn't send letters. Suddenly, laughter erupted from around the corner of the building. Both girls heard this and instantly understood.

* * *

Hikaru and Kaoru had been watching as Haruhi and Blaise struggled with their "confessions of love." The twins were trying to keep their laughter to themselves but couldn't hold it in anymore. They burst out laughing.

"They fell for it!" Hikaru said, leaning against his brother for support.

Kaoru was doubled over. "They actually thought that the other sent the letter!" The twins continued to laugh until a pair of shadows fell over them. Then they realized that they had been laughing too loudly. They stopped and looked up, only to see the death glares that Blaise and Haruhi were giving them. The twins had never run harder from anything in their lives.

**A/N: How was that? Did anyone see that coming? Was I too obvious? Please let me know how I'm doing! Tell me what you liked or did not like in a review. I hope you liked this chapter and that I will see you next update. Peace!**


	5. Chapter 5: Physical Exam Day

Chapter 5: Physical Exam Day

**A/N: Ok, so here's my next chapter. Sorry it came a little later than I expected but I had some writer's block. At first I hadn't planned for anything to happen at the physical exams but then CeruleanCat said that it would be interesting if something happened. Then I thought that that was a great idea, it would be a good filler. Also, I hope you like the new book cover I put for this story. I took that photo and I think it's pretty. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and thanks to Maria Penner for inspiring it.**

A couple weeks have passed since the love letter incident and not much has happened. The only thing that could count that was worth mentioning was that Blaise officially decided that she really hated those Hitachiin twins. They were getting on her last nerve, she could barely take it anymore. How was she supposed to survive the year with them?

Today was the day of the famed physical exams. It was barely morning and Blaise was still sleeping when something began to ring in her room. At first, she didn't notice because she was half asleep, but eventually she heard it and groaned tiredly. Lazily, she grabbed her phone from her bedside table. She flipped it open and put it to her ear but was confused when the ringing continued. She looked at her phone screen, no one was calling her, so she sat up and looked around, noticing that a light on her laptop was flashing.

Reluctantly, Blaise rolled out of bed and crawled over to her laptop that was charging on the floor. Opening it, she found that Aldric was calling her. She accepted his call and a few seconds later, his face was on her screen. She didn't waste time greeting him.

"Aldric, what are you doing calling me this early in the morning? I don't have to get ready for school for another hour." Blaise said while rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry, Blaise-chan. I finally had some free time and I wanted to talk to my favorite sister! Is now a bad time? Should I hang up?" They hadn't had time to talk since Blaise asked for advice about the love letter.

"No, it's fine." Blaise said, stretching her arms up. "It's good to talk to you, I guess. So how are things over there?"

"School's good, mom's busy as always. I hardly get to see her, but I do get to see some of our other relatives. It's nice to see them after so long. You know, they ask about you."

Blaise grabbed her pillow from her bed and hugged it, her face pressed into the soft, cool material. "Of course they would. I'm in another country."

"Hey, is something wrong? How's everything over there?"

Blaise looked up and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, I'm just tired. Everything's normal here. Dad's doing fine and school is ok."

Aldric smirked and raised an eyebrow. "'School is ok?' if I were you, school would be wonderful! How's being a host coming along?"

"Ok, I guess. I'm still not that used to having girls fuss over me, but it's a little better than the start of the year."

"What about the hosts?" Aldric asked, mischievously. "Have any of them made a move on you yet?"

Blaise scoffed. "No. Why would I want them to?"

"Oh come on! I'd do anything to be in your position! Surrounded by that delicious eye candy all day, you're so lucky!"

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"So, is there anything interesting going on today?"

"Well," Blaise started, sitting cross-legged and hugging her pillow in her lap. "Today is physical exam day."

Aldric bounced with excitement. "Ooo, really? Take some photos for me, would you?"

Blaise looked at him sharply. "What, why?"

"The host club will be shirtless, dammit! That's a good photo taking opportunity!"

"No! Why would I want to take pictures of that?" Blaise yelled as loudly as she could without waking up her dad. "And anyway, this is just a physical exam! When would I get a chance to take a picture of them shirtless?"

Aldric put a hand to his mouth. "Oh, right, physical exams at Ouran are different from what you're used to. You don't know what happens do you? Ok, I won't spoil it!"

"What?" Blaise asked suspiciously, Haruhi had told her about the exams last year, but hadn't quite gone into specific details on how the hosts used the opportunity to "boost popularity." Aldric just mimed zipping his lips and smiled. "Ugh, fine, whatever. You were there last year though, right? Why didn't you just do it then?"

"I tried!" Aldric said with a stomp of his foot. "But there were too many girls in the way and I couldn't force myself to the front because then, the hosts would have seen me in those awful clothes!" By that, Aldric meant the boys' school uniform. He hadn't been allowed to cross dress at Ouran.

"Your life must have been so hard." Blaise said dryly.

"It was! I'm so glad you see my pain!" Aldric said, either too oblivious to catch her sarcasm or just purposefully ignoring it.

"Yeah, I can see it perfectly."

Aldric then turned his head to look at something behind him. "Blaise-chan, I need to go. I have a class to go to in a few minutes. I'll talk to you again when I can alright?"

"Ok, bye, Aldric."

"Bye! And I keep telling you, call me Kumiko!"

Blaise smirked. "Yeah, no." Then she hung up before her brother could scold her. Standing up to stretch, Blaise glanced around her room and sighed. She might as well get ready for school.

* * *

"So what exactly happens at these physical exams?" Blaise asked Haruhi as they walked down the hall to the exams in question.

Haruhi grimaced. "I guess I didn't tell you about that, did I?" Blaise shook her head. With a sigh, Haruhi continued. "Well it's definitely different so just prepare yourself."

"Haruhi, what are you talking about?" Kaoru asked from behind her. "Their completely normal."

"Yeah, for you guys." Haruhi said flatly.

"What? No one has a problem with them." Hikaru said from beside his twin. "We don't."

"Just because it was you who said that I feel like I should be going in wearing a suit of armor or something." Blaise muttered to herself.

Haruhi was the first one to reach the doors so she opened them. When Blaise was able to see inside, her jaw dropped. An aisle ran the length of the room. On either side was a row of curtains. On the left was a line of nurses and on the right was a line of doctors.

"What the heck is this?" Blaise asked.

"Just another physical exam." Hikaru said, as if she were stupid. Then he and Kaoru walked passed her and Haruhi and into the room.

"That's what they told me last year." Haruhi said with a sigh. Then she and Blaise followed the twins in. They stayed in the back since they were going to another clinic for their exams. Together, they watched as nurses and doctors happily led students around to get their height or weight measured.

"Why are they all so happy?" Blaise asked. "Watching them makes me feel sick."

"It's because that's their job." Blaise jumped when Kyoya suddenly spoke from right next to her. He was writing in a notebook as he said. "As I explained to Haruhi last year, this is a business after all. The school has to keep the students happy. Also, the students probably have their own family doctors so this is just a formality. This is a business day, and not just for the school." He momentarily looked up from his notebook to look across the room.

Blaise confusedly looked in the direction of where he was looking. "What do you . . . ?" Then, she saw it. Tamaki had one hand on his hip and the other in his hair. He was looking dramatically upward and sparkles that came from who knows where were shining around him. Nearby, Hikaru and Kaoru were hanging all over each other. All three boys were shirtless. Now Blaise saw what Aldric had been so worked up about.

Blaise was now turned around, her forearm resting against the wall and her head hung low. "What kind of physical exam is this? Why am I even here?"

"You're here because people would notice if a whole third of the host club attending the school was missing." Kyoya explained. "By the way, the doctor that I set up in the special boys' clinic should be ready for you now. But you both can't go at the same time, like I said, people will notice."

"I'll go first." Haruhi said, heading for the door. "I don't want to witness this again." When she was gone, Blaise still stood with her arm against the wall.

"You should be able to follow her in about ten minutes." Kyoya said, still writing.

Blaise sighed. "Ok." Eventually she turned around and rested her back against the wall. She watched incredulously as girls gawked at the half-naked hosts. _What the hell is wrong with this school?_

When the clock on the wall finally indicated that ten minutes had passed, Blaise hurriedly made her way out of the room. As she walked through the halls, she tried to remember exactly where the clinic was. When she finally found it, she opened the door and looked inside. It was smaller than the other clinic. There was only one curtained area and a female doctor sat at a desk by the window.

The doctor looked at her with a smile. "Hello, Mr. de Luca. Yes, Mr. Fujioka told me that you were coming. I know about your situation. Could you please disrobe for me behind the curtain?"

"Uh, sure." Blaise said before walking behind the curtain. No one else was back there so she guessed that Haruhi was done and had left. She shrugged and unbuttoned her shirt. She was slipping the garment off when she heard the curtain rustle. Blaise assumed it was the doctor so she turned. Then her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to shout, when a pair of hands covered her mouth.

"Sh! Don't scream." The Hitachiin brothers said to her.

Blaise jerked away from them and clutched her shirt to her chest as her cheeks began to heat up. "What-what are you doing in here?" She whispered harshly. She didn't know why she was whispering, she should be screaming her head off at these twins.

"We need to take pictures of you." Hikaru said.

"For the host club's website." Kaoru added.

"No way in hell!" Blaise hissed.

"Not from the front. We're not _that_ perverted." Hikaru reasoned. Blaise still couldn't help but think that he had just admitted that he and his brother were indeed perverts.

"Just from the back." Kaoru continued. "That way it will look like you're a shirtless guy."

"Besides, who would want a picture of the front? There's nothing there." Hikaru deadpanned.

Blaise blushed deeper. "No! Can't you just photo shop or something?"

"We did that for Haruhi." Kaoru said.

"But that took too long. This way it will be faster." The older twin said.

"N-no!" Blaise backed away slightly.

"Fine, we can take it with your bra still on." Kaoru began to compromise.

"That way we will have a template and it won't take as long." Hikaru said as they both took digital cameras out of their pockets and began to inch toward her.

"No!" Blaise said. She shut her eyes and threw whatever she could at them, which was mostly just linen, and she ran through the curtains and out of the clinic. She stood outside the double doors, panting. Then, she realized that she had run into the hallway without her shirt, she had thrown it at the twins. Luckily, no one was around, but still. Blaise began to panic. She definitely did not want to be caught in the hallway without her shirt on.

Blaise began to run toward Music Room three. It was close by and if she could get there before running into anyone, she could grab an extra shirt from there and wear that. Then she could wait until the twins were gone. She would have gone back into the clinic, but the twins were there and she was definitely not going back in there if they were still around, especially if they had cameras in tow.

The shirtless girl rushed through the halls. She was careful to stay along the walls and check around corners before she went around them. She came up with no complications. As she reached the corner that would take her into the hallway that led to the clubroom, Blaise thought for sure she was home free. Then, of course, when she checked around the corner, she saw someone coming. Her heart began to race. _What should I do? _

She quickly went through the nearest door before she could be seen. It was pitch black inside when she shut the door behind her. Blaise put her ear to the door and listened. She heard footsteps come and then fade away. When she was sure that they were gone, Blaise decided to peek out and see if it was clear to go, but there was a slight problem: the doorknob wouldn't turn. She was locked in.

"Great!" Blaise whispered harshly to herself. She kicked her foot out and it hit what sounded like a pail. She heard it roll and concluded that she was in a janitor's closet. _What to do now? _Blaise thought about it and eventually decided to call Haruhi for help. She took out her phone and selected Haruhi's contact. It rung for a while, then went to voicemail. Blaise cursed and decided to just text her where she was and to bring a spare shirt.

When she hit send, she tried turning the light on but discovered the light bulb was out. Sighing, Blaise sat down on the floor to wait. She felt like she sat there in darkness and total silence for a long time. She began to feel fidgety as she sat there, waiting in the cramped closet.

Finally, the door opened, but it did not reveal the person that she wanted to see.

"Blaise?" Hikaru asked, stepping inside.

"Don't look at me!" Blaise shouted at him, her blush returning.

"Ok!" Hikaru said, turning so he wasn't facing her. Blaise thought that he sounded annoyed, but in truth, he was blushing slightly.

The door began to close. "Wait! Don't let the . . ." The door shut. ". . . door close." Blaise finished, her head hung forward.

"Why?"Hikaru asked. "And why is it so dark in here?"

"The door is locked from the outside and the light bulb is out."

"Why would you lock the door from the outside?"

"I found it that way and I didn't know it would lock!"

"Can I turn around now? I feel ridiculous."

"No."

"Why not? I won't be able to see you! It's pitch black!"

"No!"

Hikaru groaned. Blaise could hear a rustling sound before he said "here" and something landed on the side of her head. It felt like cloth.

"What's this?"

"My shirt. Can I turn around if you put it on?"

Blaise hesitated. "Fine." Once Blaise slipped it on and buttoned it she noticed it was a little big on her, but it did the job. "Ok." She said when she was done. Then she heard Hikaru sit down. Blaise looked down at the shirt. Was it weird that, even though Blaise hated Hikaru's guts at that moment, she thought that his shirt smelled good?

Hikaru took out his phone. "I'll text Kaoru so he can come get us." Blaise watched his illuminated face as he stared at his phone and typed a text. Then when he was done, he placed the open phone on the floor so that there was some light. He couldn't help but notice that Blaise looked slightly uncomfortable. She wouldn't meet his eyes and she hugged her knees to her chest. Why was she like that? Was she claustrophobic or scared of the dark? Was it because she was locked in a room alone with him? Did she just feel uncomfortable around shirtless guys or was it . . . something else?

"How did you find me?" she asked, looking down.

"Kaoru decided that we should look for you. He went one way and I went the other."

"I'll be sure to thank _him_ then."

There was a bit of an awkward silence between them. "So why did you hide in here?"

"I was trying to get to the clubroom, but then I saw some people coming so I went through the first door I saw."

"Should have gone through the second." Hikaru mumbled.

"Well I'm sorry that I can't magically tell when doors are locked!"

"Well, at least no one saw you right?"

Blaise nodded. "I made sure of it."

There was another short silence before the door abruptly opened. In the doorway were Kaoru, Haruhi, Tamaki, and Kyoya, though Kyoya was uninterestedly writing in a notebook in the back. As soon as Tamaki saw Blaise and Hikaru on the floor he began to yell.

"You perverted bastard! Is this some kind of sick foreplay?"

Blaise blushed while Hikaru lazily looked back at Tamaki and asked "What are you talking about?"

Tamaki pointed accusingly. "You were alone with Blaise in a dark closet and your shirt is off! What else could this be?"

"Oh please." Hikaru said. "That's not what this is. Anyway, who would waste time on anything, especially foreplay with her?" He jerked a thumb at Blaise.

Blaise stood and punched Hikaru on the back of his head. She was trembling slightly and looked very angry. "I'm going to finish my physical exam." She said as she passed the other hosts and headed down the hallway.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Tamaki yelled.

Haruhi handed Hikaru the extra shirt that she had been carrying. "Yeah. I think we'd all like to know."

"Well . . ." Hikaru began as he took the shirt and rubbed the back of his head.

* * *

It was now after school and Blaise had just arrived home. When her dad stopped the car, she immediately got out and went to her room. There, she plopped onto her bed and groaned into her pillow. _Today was a mess. _She pulled her bag toward her, deciding to do some homework. She reached in and was surprised to feel something soft. To her even greater surprise, she pulled out Hikaru's shirt.

She had forgotten all about it. When she had gone back to the special boys' clinic, Blaise had stored Hikaru's shirt in her bag and put on her own when the exam was done. The next time she had seen Hikaru, he had been wearing a shirt so she completely forgot that she still had his original.

Blaise hesitated before delicately bringing the shirt to her face and breathing in. _It smells good. I wonder what kind of detergent he uses. Maybe I should ask . . . no. That would sound weird. _Blaise took the shirt away and looked at it. _I should just wash it and return it tomorrow._

* * *

Blaise arrived at school the next day, holding the shirt, now folded, in her hand. She walked into the building and decided to look for Hikaru before class. She found him walking with Kaoru and Haruhi down a hallway. Blaise made her way over to them and walked up to the older Hitachiin twin.

Blaise looked up at him as she held out the shirt. "Here." She said.

The red head looked down at it. "Why did you bring it back? You could have just thrown it away. I have more at home and if I had really wanted another I could have just gone to buy it." Haruhi and Kaoru were now standing a little ways away, watching.

Blaise shook the shirt, emphasizing that he should take it. "Just take it you rich bastard, and stop rubbing your damn wealth in my face."

"Fine." Hikaru sighed as he took the shirt and shoved it into his bag. "Thanks, I guess." Kaoru and Haruhi glanced at each other, and with that, the foursome made their way to class.

**A/N: There, so what did you think? I feel like my chapters are not as good as they could be, mostly because nothing is happening yet. Right now I am just building into the main plot, but don't worry, things will get interesting soon, promise. This chapter kinda turned out to be important though so thanks CeruleanCat. I gave you some stuff to think about like "why is Blaise so uncomfortable in the closet?" I don't know! Just kidding, yes I do. So yeah, please review, either praising or critiquing me, both are appreciated, just don't be a total jerk 'cuz then I will ignore you. Anyway, hoped you liked this and see you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Start of Something

Chapter 6: The Start of . . . Something

**A/N: Ok, so the title of this chapter was supposed to be "The Beginning of Something Beautiful," but the damn chapter title slot is too small! Sorry, just had to vent. Anyway, I hope this chapter is entertaining.**

A little over two weeks have passed since the physical exams. For a while, Blaise couldn't even bring herself to _look _at the Hitachiin twins without embarrassedly remembering what happened. Eventually though, things went back to normal. At least . . . as normal as things could get at the host club.

Today, we find our beloved hosts in their clubroom. It was just a meeting day so there were no guests. The eight hosts were just talking about themes and other club business . . . ok actually no, it was more like Tamaki was telling Kyoya about all the props and costumes he wanted and Kyoya irritably looking in his notebook, explaining that they could not afford it. The other hosts were doing something else to busy themselves. Haruhi was out buying instant coffee (surprisingly). Honey was devouring cake and Mori was sitting across from him watching. Blaise, however was bored. She had just finished her homework and didn't know what to do. She looked around the room, then noticed the twins sitting on a windowsill. One of them was looking out the window while the other was reading something. Blaise was pretty sure it was a textbook. That got her thinking. _Is there a test coming up that I don't know about?_

She made her way over there to ask. She walked up to the twin reading the book and asked "Hey, Kaoru. What are you reading?"

"What are you talking about? I'm Kaoru." The twin that was looking out the window turned and said.

Blaise scoffed. "No you're not." The brothers glanced at each other. She was right. "So, Kaoru?"

"Ugh." Kaoru said, putting the book down on its spine. "It's a world history textbook."

Blaise sighed. "Oh good. I thought you were studying for a test in one of our classes." She wasn't taking world history but was instead taking Japanese history because she had never focused on it before. She thought the subject was quite interesting actually.

"Blaise, how'd you do that?" Hikaru asked.

"Do what?"

"You know. Tell us apart." Kaoru clarified.

Blaise gathered her thoughts first. "Well . . ."

Then there was a knock on the door. All the hosts looked toward it. "Who could that be? The club is closed." Honey wondered as he munched on a piece of cake.

"Don't know." Mori answered him.

Tamaki stood up from where he was sitting with Kyoya and began to sashay toward the door. "Maybe a little kitten lost her way. Not to worry my princess. I will rescue you." Then he started to bounce slightly as another thought came to mind. "Or maybe it's my little Haruhi and she's having trouble opening the door because her hands are full! Don't worry my little girl! Daddy is coming to help you!" As Tamaki put his hand on the handle, Blaise couldn't help but notice that the knocking sounded more like scratching.

Then Tamaki turned the handle . . . and was run over. Not by Haruhi, a princess, or even a kitten. Nope. He was run over by a dog.

The dog began to bark excitedly and run around in circles on top of the host club king. Blaise gasped. "Oh, it's a dog!" She immediately went over to where it was running over Tamaki. She didn't know its sex so she just said. "Come here, boy." The dog perked up to look at her, then quickly dashed away and toward the place where Honey and Mori were sitting. Mori saw the dog coming and quickly went around the table and picked Honey up and away from the table. _Thankfully_, Honey thought quickly and took his plate of cake with him and away from the table before the dog ran into it. China fell and shattered on the floor as the table was knocked over.

It began to run away but Blaise was quick to sit and catch it in her lap. Mori gently set Honey down and the little blonde went over to check on Tamaki, cake still in hand. "Tama-chan, are you ok?"

Tamaki twitched on the floor. "Yeah, I'm fine . . . Honey-senpai."

Then, Haruhi poked her head through the door, carrying a brown paper bag. "Oh no. He came in here didn't he?"

"What do you mean, Haru-chan?" Honey asked innocently, through a mouthful of cake.

Haruhi sighed as she walked in and sat the bag on a table. "I saw the dog outside the school and when I went up to it, it ran inside."

The hosts were now watching as Blaise held the dog in her lap, petting it.

"Blaise, what are you doing? It's a stray and is probably carrying diseases." Hikaru said loudly from his perch on the window.

She glanced back at him. "No he's not. He has a tag." She looked back at the dog, trying to avoid its tongue licking her face as she attempted to read the tag. "Ichigo." _Ichigo? As in a strawberry? Well I guess that makes sense. He's small and has red fur._

"Blaise." Kyoya began. "That tea set the dog broke was worth another 500,000 yen."

Blaise looked back at the merciless tax collector. "What, and I'm paying for it?_ He _broke it!" She said incredulously.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "Yes, well _you_ tried to call it and that ended up making the dog run into the table and breaking it."

A depressed aura surrounded Blaise. _Yay. More debt._

Tamaki was suddenly behind Blaise, looking at the dog. "Poor little one. He must be lost. We _must _help him find his owners!" he said dramatically, in an equally dramatic pose.

Kyoya sighed, then whipped out his cellphone and flipped it open, prepared to dial a number. "Blaise, what's the number on the dog's tag? I'll call the owners and we can return him."

Blaise looked at the tag again. Then at the back. "Uh, there's no number or address or anything. Just his name."

Kyoya snapped his phone shut. "Then we will put up notifications saying that the host club found a dog, but in the meantime, where do we keep the dog until he is claimed? We can't keep it in the clubroom."

Blaise suddenly looked excited. "I'll take him home! He can stay in my yard."

That got the twins thinking.

"Hey, Blaise. What kind of home do you live in?" Hikaru asked.

"Is it an apartment?" His twin questioned.

Blaise looked back at them. "No. It's a house. Why?"

"Is it a commoner's house?" Kaoru looked at her curiously.

"Uh. Yeah."

"Can we visit sometime?" Hikaru asked as they walked closer to her. They had never seen a _commoner's house _before.

Blaise looked at them sharply. "No way in hell!"

"Why not." The twins asked simultaneously.

"I think we can all imagine why." Haruhi deadpanned as she knelt next to Blaise to pet Ichigo.

Honey's head perked up. He was sitting next to Mori at another table eating more cake."Ooo, visiting Blaise-chan's house sounds fun!"

Blaise sighed. "I guess the rest of the host club could visit one day." Then she sharply gestured at the twins. "But not you two."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Hikaru complained.

"Why won't you let _us_ go?" Kaoru whined.

"Because you will probably screw around with my stuff." Blaise answered in annoyance. "And I can imagine some of the stupid things you guys would do." Then she turned to Ichigo. "I bet you're thirsty." She said as she held the dog's face. It licked her and she laughed. "Come on. I'll get you some water." She picked the dog up in her arms and began to make her way to the back room. "Haruhi, do we have any bowls?"

"We might." The short haired girl thought about it. "Let me check." She said as she followed Blaise.

The Hitachiin twins stared after Blaise as she went. _She could tell them apart_. Kaoru glanced at his older brother. _Could it be? So soon after Haruhi? Hm . . . maybe. _Kaoru had some speculations, but he had to see how things played out first.

* * *

Later on that night, in the Hitachiin manor, Kaoru was sitting on his bed watching his brother pace across his bedroom floor.

"Hikaru, calm down. It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is!" Hikaru said loudly, briefly throwing his hands in the air. "How did she tell us apart?"

"Maybe she's just like Haruhi. She can see that we're different."

"But Blaise never explained herself. She probably just got lucky and guessed right."

Kaoru sighed. There was no talking his brother down right now. Scooting over so that he was closest to the wall, Kaoru pat the empty bed space next to him. "Come on, Hikaru. Let's just go to bed. We can figure this out in the morning."

Hikaru hesitated. "Yeah, ok." He sighed. Then he walked over to the bed and moved the covers so that they were both under them.

Kaoru gently squeezed his brother's hand under the blanket. "We'll figure this out. Ok?"

Hikaru looked at his younger brother before sighing and looking at the ceiling. "Ok."

Kaoru smiled and looked up at the ceiling too. "Who would have thought though, that we would find someone other than Haruhi who could tell us apart?" Hikaru just grunted in response and soon the two fell asleep.

* * *

The next day, during hosting hours, Blaise's guests were excitedly asking her about the dog that they had heard she was keeping. Not far away, the twins were making their guests play the "which one is Hikaru game."

"So, can you tell?" The twins asked, leaning against each other.

"No. Your hats cover your hair! Oh, this is so hard."

Blaise was watching and scoffed. "No it's not."

The twins looked over at her, then had an idea.

"Hey, Blaise." One of them said as they came to stand next to her.

She looked at them warily. "What?"

"Why don't_ you_ take a guess?"

"If you guess wrong, we get to go to your house."

Blaise crossed her arms. "And what's in this for me?"

The twins glanced at each other. "If you guess right, we'll play less tricks on you."

". . . Fine." She agreed. They annoyed her and the deal would have been better if they ceased_ all _tricks . . . but less was better than more in this case.

"Ok. Here are the rules." One said, wagging his finger.

"You only get one guess and you can't just get it right, you also have to give an explanation."

Blaise waved at them impatiently. "Alright. Fine, get on with it."

The twins quickly switched places several times, their hats down so that their faces were hidden. Finally, they stopped and said "Ok, now which one of us is Hikaru?"

Blaise only had to think for a second. She pointed to the twin on her right first. "You're Kaoru," then she pointed to the one on the left "and you're Hikaru."

"Uh oh! You got it wrong!" They said in a singsong voice.

"Oh please. I'm not stupid. I know I got it right."

The twins glanced at each other. She had. Everyone in the room was now staring at them. "Whoa. How did you do that, Blaise-chan?" Honey asked.

"Yeah, we've only ever seen Haruhi do that." Tamaki marveled.

"Ok." Hikaru started. "So you guessed right, but now you have to give us your reason."

Blaise thought about it for a second. "Well, your voices are different and you speak and act differently from each other."

"How so?" Kaoru asked her.

"Hm. Let's see. The best way I can put it is that Kaoru is more sensitive while Hikaru is more of a dense jerk."

They stared at her for a moment. Then Hikaru exploded. "What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Blaise just looked at him. "Exactly how I said it. Besides, Kaoru is always nicer to me than you are. When you talk to me you always act like a smartass."

"Says you! You've said some pretty smartass comments yourself!"

"Only because you started it."

"Since when?"

"Since we first met."

"Well maybe if you were nice then I would be nice back."

"It's hard to when you don't have a likeable personality."

"You're not even trying are you?"

"Nope. Not in the slightest."

Hikaru put a hand to his forehead. "Why do I even bother?"

"Because you're too stupid to realize when to quit."

Hikaru picked up a vase nearby and held it like he was going to throw it. "You're really asking for it now four-eyes!"

Blaise picked up a box of instant coffee. "Are we resorting to name calling now? Fine! Bring it carrot top!"

Then they began throwing things at each other. Everyone, including Kaoru, moved away from them and watched from the other side of the room.

"This looks like when me and Hikaru pretended to fight last year." Kaoru said.

"Only this time we are all pretty sure this is real." Kyoya said. Then he looked up from his laptop and over at the quarreling hosts. "Blaise, you _do_ know that the things you are breaking weren't free right?"

"Shit." Blaise said as she stopped throwing things, but there was already a mountain of things piled up beside them.

"Ha!" Hikaru said, pointing at her. "I win."

"Yeah, keep talking. You might actually say something intelligent one day!" Blaise yelled back.

"I don't have to take that from you!"

"Yeah you do because it's the only thing you're capable of doing! I'd love to leave you with a thought but I don't think you have anywhere to put it!"

"What is your problem?!"

"I see your ugly face every day!"

"Well at least I could get plastic surgery to fix my ugliness, but you on the other hand will be stupid forever!"

"If your brain was chocolate it wouldn't fill an M&M!"

"Agh!" Then they both yelled in frustration and stomped away. This was _definitely _the beginning of a _beautiful _relationship.

* * *

Later that day, Blaise was at home in her room talking to Aldric. The video chat had just started and Aldric could already tell that something was on Blaise's mind.

"Blaise-chan, what's wrong?"

"Hikaru Hitachiin!"Blaise said angrily, clawing both sides of her head.

"What? Did he try to seduce you?"

"Gross no! He just drives me insane."

"Why, because you think he's hot and can't get him out of your head? I feel you girl."

"Aldric!"

"Fine! What did he do?"

"Ugh! He's just such a jerk! He's getting on my nerves!"

"Well maybe he likes you and doesn't know how to say it."

"I highly doubt that."

"Maybe you should give him a chance."

"No! Ugh, can we just talk about something else before I get a migraine?"

"Oh, alright. Fine." Aldric said. He was trying to hide a smile. What was this Hitachiin boy doing to his sister? He had never seen her so worked up before. "Oh! I forgot to ask. How did the letter and physical exams go?"

Blaise sat still and stared at her computer screen for a while. Then she said suddenly and definitely too excitedly. "Hey, why don't I show you the dog that I'm watching? Kyoya-senpai said that the owners would be here later so I wanna say goodbye." She quickly picked up her computer and went down the stairs."

"Blaise-chan, don't change the subject! I know you're hiding something from me!"

Blaise put a hand to her mouth as if to stifle a giggle. "Whatever do you mean, Onii-chan?"

"Are you mocking me?" Aldric yelled.

". . . No . . ." Blaise said as she slid open the glass door that led out into her backyard. She set her computer on a chair and went off to get Ichigo.

"Hey! Come on! Tell me what happened! You never tell me anything!" Aldric whined. "Why are you so mean to-? Oh my gosh, he's cute!" Aldric squealed as Blaise held the dog up to the screen.

Blaise smiled. Her brother was so unbelievably ADD sometimes.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Hitachiin Manor, Kaoru was walking through the halls looking for his brother. _Where has he gone off to? _Then Kaoru walked passed Hikaru's room and found him sitting on his bed punching a pillow.

Kaoru's eyebrows furrowed. He cautiously walked into the room and asked "Hikaru, what are you doing?"

"Releasing my anger." Hikaru said through clenched teeth as he continuously punched the poor pillow.

"Over what?"

"Blaise of course!"

Kaoru sighed. "You're still going on about that?"

"Yes! She's so infuriating!"

Kaoru walked over and took the pillow away. "Well you don't have to murder a pillow to feel better."

"Well how else am I supposed to feel better?"

"Forgive and forget?" Kaoru asked hopefully.

"No! I can't do that! She started it!"

"But you didn't have to go along with it."

"But then I'd be letting her win!"

Kaoru sighed. "Maybe you should just do something else for now and wait until things cool down tomorrow."

Hikaru hesitated. "Fine. But this is far from over."

"I know." Kaoru reassured his brother. He tried to hide the smile that was trying to pull at his lips. Whatever Blaise was doing to his brother, it was working. He rarely saw Hikaru so worked up about anything before, especially a girl.

**A/N: There! How'd you like that? The banter and the sibling moments. I thought they weren't bad. I have a feeling that the banter could have been a little better though. As for the sibling moments, I liked those. I love having scenes with Aldric in them, they make me laugh, and I have a soft spot for the twins so I just had to put in a sibling moment or two for them. I think their cute when they're not playing the whole "we're gay" thing, but even when they're doing that I still love them. More of those moments in the future! As usual, favorite, follow, and review at your own pace. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7: Beach Fun!

Chapter 7: Beach Fun!

**A/N: Chapter 7, yay! Sorry this took me longer than I thought it would. I had a little writer's block on how to exactly put this into words and then the chapter ended being different from what I originally planned. BUT I still think it turned out great. Thanks for reading this far and I want to thank you wonderful people who have reviewed, followed and favorited. You guys are the best! I hope you like this.**

Blaise woke up feeling great. It wasn't a school day! She finally had some free time from school, the host club, and best of all the Hitachiin brothers . . . mostly one in particular. Blaise sat up in bed and stretched contentedly. Today would be a good day. Her dad was at work so she had the house to herself. She wasn't planning on doing much, mostly chores and things like that, but it would be relaxing compared to her normal day-to-day life.

She performed her morning routine and then went downstairs to eat breakfast. She didn't feel like cooking, so she just warmed up leftovers and ate those. It took her a while to eat though, she was still trying to get used to chopsticks. She stared out the window as she ate. It was early, but it looked like it would be a nice day. As Blaise washed her dishes, she decided that she would go out for a jog.

The girl went back upstairs to her room to change so that her hair was in a high ponytail and she was wearing a pair of black running shorts and a white t-shirt. As an afterthought, she grabbed her phone and put it in her pocket before running back downstairs and out the door.

Blaise took a deep breath of fresh air after she locked the door and gate behind her. It really _was _a nice day. The sky was clear and it was comfortably warm outside. So, she contently stood there for a few seconds before turning and jogging down the street. Blaise didn't plan to jog all morning, she just wanted to go several blocks and come back. But, of course, plans don't always work out . . . especially when you know the Ouran High School Host Club.

Blaise was just rounding a corner, organizing in her head a list of chores she had to do, when, next moment, she was sitting in a limo. _What the heck? _Blaise sat there in confusion. She had been jogging just a second ago. That's when she noticed the people who were in the limo with her. _Oh crap. _It was all of the actual male members of the host club.

Let's back track a bit. When Blaise had stepped outside of her house, she had not noticed the black limo that was suspiciously idling a little ways down the street. As Blaise turned the opposite way for her jog, the limo began to follow her. It sped up so that it passed her and stopped at the curb where she was going to make a turn. While Blaise wasn't paying attention, Hikaru and Kaoru exited the limo and hid behind the wall of a building. When Blaise turned the corner, Hikaru opened the limo door and Kaoru pushed the unsuspecting girl into the vehicle.

Now, Blaise sat in her seat and blinked at the boys around her. Hikaru and Kaoru were getting in on the other end of the limo, high fiving each other. On the edge of the seat closest to the twins were Mori (as stoic as ever) and Honey, who was sitting next to his tall friend, swinging his legs like a child and hugging his stuffed bunny, Usa-chan. Next to Honey was Tamaki who was excitedly sitting forward in his seat, looking at Blaise, his eyes wide and sparkly. Lastly was Kyoya, sitting at the end of the long seat next to Tamaki. Kyoya, of course, was typing on his laptop.

Blaise looked at them all for another moment before yelling "What the hell!"

Tamaki leaned toward her some more. "Are you surprised, Blaise?" He asked, bubbling with excitement.

"Who wouldn't be surprised, Tamaki-senpai? You pulled me off the streets and shoved me into your limo!"

"Well how else were we supposed to make you come with us?" Kaoru asked.

"You would have never come with us anyway." Hikaru reasoned.

"But this is kidnapping!" Blaise yelled again, trying to get the simple concept across to them. When they continued to look at her, Blaise sighed and asked "Where are you taking me anyway?"

"We're going to the beach!" Honey said excitedly as he briefly threw Usa-chan in the air and caught him again.

Blaise blinked. "The beach?" She looked at Mori, the only boy in the host club who seemed to be sensible. He nodded. "But I'm not ready for something like that. I haven't packed any clothes."

"Don't worry about that." Kyoya said, not looking up. "We will provide you with some at the beach house."

Blaise crossed her arms. "What about my dad, he doesn't know where I am."

"You don't have to worry about that either." Kyoya continued. "I spoke to your father over the phone and he gave permission for us to take you. He thought it seemed like a good idea." Blaise opened her mouth to say something but Kyoya spoke again. "And it doesn't matter if you don't want to go. This is a mandatory club trip. Everything has already been prepared for your stay. If you do not go, I will have to charge you for the expenses."

Blaise huffed and turned her head to look out the window. _How the hell does he know what I'm going to say? Is he a mind reader or does he just happen to think of everything. _Blaise thought the latter was more likely. _He's so calculating._

The girl turned to Tamaki, a question forming in her mind. "If the whole club has to be there, then where's Haruhi?"

"We're going to get her right now!" Tamaki said as if he could hardly contain himself. He was sitting on his seat and wiggling like an excited dog would.

"Well she'll be happy about that." Blaise muttered sarcastically before staring out the window in boredom. She watched as houses passed by, wondering where Haruhi lived. Eventually, they stopped outside of an apartment complex.

Blaise looked up at the building. _So this is where she lives. _Then, at an angle, she saw Haruhi, wearing a light blue t-shirt and cargo shorts, walk out of a door on a higher floor. She seemed to wave to someone as she stepped out. Just as the unsuspecting girl reached the bottom steps, Hikaru and Kaoru picked her up by her arms and threw her into the limo so she sat right next to Blaise.

"What the-? Hey!" Haruhi said irritably as she was unceremoniously shoved into the limo. "What do you guys think you're doing?"

"Taking you to the beach." The twins said simply as they got back into the limo.

"Since when were we going to the beach? I was planning on going to the market and doing laundry today!"

The limo began to drive away as Tamaki asked innocently "But this is a club trip, aren't you excited, Haruhi?"

"No, not really." Tamaki hung his head in depression at these words. "And what about my dad? Couldn't I have at least told him where I was going?"

"I've already taken care of that." Kyoya said, still typing.

Haruhi looked at him. "You're still talking with him, aren't you, senpai?"

Kyoya briefly looked up at her and smiled, his eyes closed. "Of course."

Haruhi tiredly hung her head. Then she looked sideways at Blaise. By the look on her face, Haruhi could tell that Blaise didn't want to be there either. "You got kidnapped too, huh?"

Blaise looked at her with a grimace. "Yeah. Join the club. Do they do this often?'

Haruhi grimaced back. "Just don't expect this to be a one-time thing."

Blaise sighed and slumped back into her seat. "Great."

* * *

Several hours later, the host club was on the Otori's private beach in Okinawa. Blaise sat under an umbrella with Haruhi and some guests. She watched as Tamaki chased a beach ball across the sand. Not far away, the twins were setting up a volley ball net. Honey and Mori were in the water with some girls, Honey was sitting on Mori's back as he swam, the girls watched nearby. Kyoya sat in a beach chair, notebook in hand, talking to a few guests. Haruhi soon went off to get some drinks and Blaise was left with the girls.

"So, has the host club been here before?" Blaise asked curiously.

"Oh yes." One of her guests, Akira, answered. "They came here last year. It was really fun!"

Blaise smiled at her. "Well then I'm glad that I'm here with you girls." The girls blushed. Just then, the twins walked up.

"Hey, Blaise." Hikaru said. "We're going to play volleyball."

Blaise looked up at him tiredly. "I'm sorry, but I think you've mistaken me for someone who gives a damn."

"Well you're nice." Hikaru said.

"We just wanted to ask if you would keep score." His brother added.

"No."

"Fine." Hikaru turned away. "We'll just ask Haruhi. He'll be more useful than you anyway, since he can probably count higher than you." He said "he" obviously because their guests could hear them.

"And _you _apparently." Blaise shot back. "Since you needed help counting in the first place."

Hikaru made a grunting sound. "Come on, Kaoru." He said as he stomped away.

"Ok." Kaoru said before following his brother. Blaise smirked as they walked away.

The girls around her looked at each other. "Blaise?" Akira asked.

Blaise looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Um. Can I ask why you don't like Hikaru and Kaoru?"

Blaise thought about it. "Well, it's not so much Kaoru as it is Hikaru, but they just really annoy me."

"Well, try not to be too hard on them, ok?"

Blaise scoffed. "Why?"

Akira glanced at the ground. "I just think that it would be better if you three were friends."

"They don't need me as a friend. I'm sure they have plenty of other friends."

Another guest, Naomi, glanced at Akira. "Uh . . . No, not really." Blaise looked at her in curiosity. _What? _Naomi looked at Blaise. "See, before they joined the host club, Hikaru and Kaoru were always alone. They were always by themselves and only talked to each other."

Blaise just looked at them. "They were . . . alone?" The girls nodded. Blaise turned, thinking, and watched as the twins ambushed Haruhi as she came back.

* * *

A few hours later, the twins were sitting on a low stone wall.

"I'm bored, Kaoru."

"Me too. What should we do?"

Hikaru sighed. "I don't know."

They sat there for a while, thinking. "Wanna play game?" Kaoru asked.

"Hm. Yeah. Ok. Do you have one in mind?"

". . . No." The twins thought some more. They watched as Blaise hit the volley ball over the net and Tamaki hit it back. She had been forced to play by Tamaki and her guests. Her guests begged her to play and Tamaki wouldn't stop jumping around like a child until he got some "bonding time" with his "daughter."

Hikaru got an idea. "Hey, remember that game we played last year?"

Kaoru looked at his brother. "Finding what Haruhi was afraid of?"

The older twin nodded. "Let's play it again, but this time with Blaise."

"You want to find out what Blaise is afraid of?"

"Yeah. I mean, we don't have anything else to do."

Kaoru thought about it. He _was _bored. "Ok."

So, for the majority of the rest of their afternoon, Hikaru and Kaoru tried finding out what Blaise was afraid of. They tried most of the things they did last year with Haruhi. They took Blaise into the cave to see if she was afraid of the dark. She wasn't. Then they tried seeing if she was afraid of the paranormal. She wasn't afraid of that either. Then Hikaru casually swung a knife around that he got from . . . somewhere . . . to see if she was afraid of sharp objects. She didn't even flinch. Finally, they decided to take her on top of the small cliff that Haruhi was pushed off of last year to see if she was afraid of heights.

Of course, they couldn't ask her to go with them, she would refuse. So they casually put the thought into one of their guest's heads to suggest it. Now, they were standing on top of the rock, gazing over the water as the sun began to set.

"Oh it feels so good up here!" One of the girls said. "And the view is so pretty!" She turned to look at Blaise. "What do you think?"

Blaise smiled at her. "Yeah. It's breathtaking." The girls gazed at her while the twins went to stand on either side of her.

"You really think so?" The older twin asked.

"Aren't you afraid of falling?" His brother inquired.

Blaise took a step away from them. "No. What is with you guys today? Are you trying to scare me or something?"

"No . . ." Hikaru said slowly.

"What makes you say that?" His younger brother asked innocently.

Blaise looked at them suspiciously. "Never mind." She said, knowing that, no matter how much she asked, they would never reveal what they were up to. Besides, it didn't matter if they were trying to find out what she was afraid of. There was really only one thing that scared . . . no, terrified her, and they would never be able to guess no matter how many times they tried.

Hikaru and Kaoru were about to say something when one of the girls screamed. "Oh my gosh! Someone's drowning."

The three hosts looked at her in alarm. "Where?" Blaise asked.

The girl shakily stood beside her and pointed somewhere in the deeper parts of the water. "Over there! I saw someone dive there a few minutes ago and I haven't seen them come up yet!" Blaise didn't wait for her to say anything else, she just dove off of the cliff.

One of the girls gasped. "Blaise!"

"Be careful!" Another yelled.

"He's so brave." A third girl marveled.

"Hurry! He'll come back on the beach!" Then all the girls rushed off.

Hikaru and Kaoru watched as, what they knew to be Blaise, swam off in the direction the girl had pointed.

"Well, now we definitely know she's not afraid of heights." Hikaru said with a sigh.

"Or drowning." Kaoru said, worried and slightly impressed. He was also a little exasperated that his brother didn't seem to be worried at all. "We should go wait down at the beach too." Hikaru hummed in agreement, in truth he was also worried, and the two made their way down.

* * *

It had been on instinct that Blaise dove into the water. Now, she was focusing on her breathing and strokes, keeping a rhythm so that she could go as fast as she could. She swam furiously in the direction that the girl had pointed out to her. It took her a few minutes to reach the place. Blaise stopped to tread water, trying to see if someone surfaced. When she didn't see anyone, she dove under the water and forced her eyes open. The salt stung slightly, but Blaise concentrated more on what she was looking for. Eventually she ran out of air and had to go back up for more before diving again. She couldn't see anyone. She had to swim up for air several times as she searched. Just when she thought the girl must have seen a piece of driftwood, Blaise heard a girl's voice.

"Help!"

Blaise turned toward it. She looked just in time to see a hand go under the water. More adrenaline coursed through her body as she swam over to where the hand had disappeared. Then, she was almost dragged under by a current. That's when she understood what must have happened. The girl must have gotten caught in the riptide, panicked, and tried to go against it. Blaise calmly took a breath and dove. She opened her eyes and looked through the water, spying the girl floating nearby. Blaise quickly swam over to her, put an arm around her waist and pulled her up. Their faces broke the surface and Blaise looked over at the girl. Her heart stopped when she saw that she wasn't moving. Blaise did her best to keep calm and just keep her head and the girl's above water. She knew that going against the current was a mistake, she had to ride it and wait for it to let her go. It was tiring to tread water for so long while holding who she now knew to be Naomi, her guest from earlier, but it was the only thing she could do.

* * *

About ten minutes after Blaise jumped into the ocean, all the hosts and guests were watching in apprehension as Blaise held the body of a girl. She was holding her around her waist with one arm and holding one of the girl's arms around her shoulders. Blaise trudged ashore, obviously exhausted. Once she reached dry sand she laid the girl on her back and collapsed onto her hands and knees, gasping for breath.

"Blaise, are you alright?" Tamaki asked worriedly, kneeling in the sand beside her.

"I'm ok." Blaise said through her panting. She looked at the girl beside her. "Not sure about her though."

"I've already called an ambulance." Kyoya said.

Blaise moved so that she was right next to the girl and bent her head to her chest. Her heart sank when she didn't hear anything. "They won't get here in time. She needs CPR."

"Well what are we going to do?" Tamaki asked in a panicked tone.

"Move." Blaise said to him.

"But-."

"Tamaki-senpai, just let me do it. I'm certified." Tamaki hesitated briefly before complying. That came as a shock to everyone, including the hosts. They hadn't known that Blaise could perform CPR.

Blaise tilted the still girl's head back before breathing a breath of air into her mouth. Then, she firmly put her hands on the girl's chest and rhythmically pressed down several times. Blaise repeated the process while everyone anxiously watched her.

Hours seemed to drag by, though they were only minutes, until finally, the girl coughed and spat up water. Her eyes fluttered open and she laid there, her breathing shallow.

Blaise smiled down at her. "Welcome back." She said.

". . . Blaise?" Naomi asked. "You saved me."

"I guess I did." Blaise said a little sheepishly. Then, one of the girls, Akira, ran around and collapsed on the other side of the girl, breaking down and expressing how worried she was between sobs. Everyone stood in relieved silence and, not long afterward, the ambulance arrived. They put Naomi on a stretcher and carried her away. Then, after they found out that Blaise was the one who saved her, they asked her if they could check her over and make sure she was ok. Blaise begrudgingly agreed and was taken away. After that, the guests talked amongst themselves while the hosts did the same.

"Did any of you know that Blaise knew CPR?" Tamaki asked. Everyone shook their heads. Then there was a slight cough.

Haruhi looked over at Kyoya. "Kyoya-senpai." She said, sounding slightly irritated.

Kyoya glanced at her, then looked at everyone else. "Well of course I knew. I _am_ in contact with her father."

"And I bet you know a lot of other things about her then." Tamaki said, also sounding irritated. "Things that you decided not to share."

Kyoya flashed him a smile. "Naturally."

"Kyoya! How could you?" Tamaki yelled. "How is trust supposed to form in this family if even mommy keeps secrets from daddy?"

The dark haired teen sighed. "Well, you have never asked before. And if you really want to know more about Blaise then you will have to ask her. I couldn't tell you much of anything even if I wanted to."

"Why is that, Kyo-chan?" Honey asked curiously from Mori's shoulders.

"Well, it seems that her father doesn't know much about her either."

"How can that be?" Kaoru asked.

"They live together don't they?" His older brother continued. "How can he not know about her?"

Kyoya closed the notebook he was looking at. "We all know that Blaise used to live in America, correct? Apparently, her first time to Japan was the day she moved here which was the day before the semester started. Previously to that, Blaise had not seen nor spoken to her father for ten years after he had divorced her mother and moved here. From what he knows, for about half of that time, Blaise did not speak to anyone at all, she would only speak when spoken to and would give short, polite responses, all bias removed. She even neglected to speak to her brother in that time, whom she had been very close to during their childhood. He moved here to live with their father about six years ago and soon after that she stopped talking, she only recently started talking to him again this year."

Tamaki blinked. "Why would she do that? Not talk to anyone for five years."

Kyoya looked at him. "No one knows for certain what the reason was, but no matter how much she is asked about it she evades the topic."

"Did her father tell you anything else?" Kaoru asked.

"He told me about her other family and what she was like as a child, but he asked me not to share the information."

"Why would he do that?" Hikaru questioned.

"Mr. de Luca thinks that it would be best for Blaise if she talked about herself when she was ready."

The rest of the host club looked over at where Blaise was sitting and being examined by the medics. They couldn't help but wonder about the mysterious girl and realize how much they didn't know about her.

As Hikaru stared, he couldn't help but think "That must have been so . . . lonely."

**A/N: This chapter seemed a little more serious than my previous ones, but I hope that I'm not boring you and that you still enjoyed and laughed a little. So, I gave you more to think about with Blaise. Don't worry, I will to give you the pieces to that puzzle . . . eventually. And I made Hikaru and Blaise discover a little something about each other. Now they understand each other more! Kinda. Writing this story frustrates me a little. I am tempted to just skip to the romance because, in my head, Hikaru and Blaise are so cute, but I need to build up to their relationship in order for it t be perfect! Oh, writer issues. Well, now I just want you guys to review please! I love those things! They brighten the empty darkness that is my life. See you next chapter . . . if you still think this is worth reading.**


	8. Chapter 8: Training for Charity

Chapter 8: Training for Charity

**A/N: Hello, readers new and old! Sorry, I know it's been a while since I last updated, but some things are going on right now and I would probably just bore you by telling you about them. I will try to update again soon. Well, here is chapter 8. My way of making my absence up to you is that this chapter is longer than usual, about 5,200 words!**

Blaise stretched her arms over her head contentedly. "I can't believe we already finished it." She said to the short haired girl walking next to her.

"I know." Haruhi said in reply. "I'm glad we did when we could. Who knows when we would have had another opportunity to?"

Blaise hummed in agreement. They were talking about their Literature project. When it had been assigned, Blaise had quickly chosen Haruhi as her partner before the twins could force Haruhi into being theirs. After all, Haruhi was the only sane friend that Blaise had at Ouran. Haruhi had been a little surprised that Blaise picked _her _as a partner, but they had ended up working well together. The project wasn't due until next week but they had finished early mostly because they couldn't risk the host club intruding upon their schoolwork.

The long-haired girl finally realized something: it was quiet . . . too quiet.

She looked behind herself warily. "Hey, Haruhi? Where are Hikaru and Kaoru?"

"Hm?" Haruhi asked before looking behind them. "I don't know. They were there just a minute ago."

Blaise continued to look at the empty hallway behind them. "I have a bad feeling."

"Oh good grief."

Blaise looked at her friend. "What?"

"Your feeling may not be that far off." The girl answered, pointing down the hall.

Blaise followed her finger and groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and effectively pushing up the glasses that had miraculously stayed on her face after the incident at the Otori's private beach. Not far away, in front of Music Room three, they could see Tamaki, Kyoya, Honey, and Mori all wearing work-out clothes. Tamaki was energetically running in place, Kyoya was (surprisingly) leaning against the wall reading a book, Honey was doing jumping jacks as fast as he could, and Mori was calmly doing stretches.

As the girls came to stand in front of the boys, Haruhi asked the question that she and Blaise wanted answered. "What are you doing?"

Tamaki stood up straighter, still running in place. "I'm glad you asked. We're training!"

"For what?" Haruhi asked flatly.

"We're going to run a marathon!" Honey answered.

The girls just looked at Tamaki, knowing that he was responsible. "Really? Since when?" Blaise asked skeptically.

"Since right now!" Tamaki said impatiently. He had stopped running now and was stomping his foot.

"Why are we running a marathon, senpai?" Haruhi asked.

"It's for charity." Kyoya said from the wall. "The money goes to benefit a cancer research facility."

"Not that the cause is a bad one," Blaise began, "but why did we suddenly decide to run a marathon?"

"As the host club king, I decided that it was high time that we started giving back to the community." Tamaki stated grandly.

"How noble of you, senpai." Haruhi deadpanned.

He beamed at her. "I'm glad you think so." Barely a second later, the missing redheads appeared next to the girls. They stood at attention and were now dressed in matching work-out clothes. "Ah, Hikaru, Kaoru, you're back. Report."

"Clear, sir." They said in unison.

"Clear?" Blaise asked. "What were you two doing? Where'd you go?"

Tamaki was suddenly standing in between the two girls, an arm around each of them. "I sent them ahead to make sure everything was as it should be. That way, we could be sure that we would be alone."

Blaise ducked out from under his arm. "Tamaki-senpai, please don't do that. It makes you sound like a pervert."

"I'm not a pervert! I'm your father!"

"I've told you before: no you're not."

Tamaki was now crouched against a wall, a dark cloud seeming to float above him.

"Aw, Blaise, why are you always so mean to the boss?" Kaoru asked from his spot at her shoulder.

"You could at least _try _to be decent every once in a while." Hikaru said from his spot at her other shoulder. She just glared at him.

"Not that this is annoying," Kyoya spoke up from the wall as he snapped his book closed "but I do believe that we have somewhere to be."

"See, four-eyes? Now you made us late." Hikaru scolded. Then he and his brother picked her up and began to drag her backward down the hall. They barely had time to feel Blaise tense up before she twisted out of their grip and kicked the back of their legs. They fell to the floor as she ran away from them.

"What the hell was that for?" They yelled at her.

"I'm a person you know." She said sternly. "I can walk on my own and don't need _you_ to drag me around like a ragdoll!"

"But you didn't have to kick us!" Hikaru said loudly.

"Now, now, gentleman." Tamaki said, suddenly recovered. "Blaise is a lady and is not to be manhandled, especially by you shady twins."

"Hey!" They protested.

"Thank you, senpai." Blaise said in relief.

"I'm glad I could help." He says, beaming, obviously happy that she had acknowledged his chivalry. "Now, Kyoya is right. We must be off!" As he said this, he hooked his arm around Haruhi's and began to drag her away.

"Senpai, wait, I can walk by myself." He didn't seem to acknowledge her. "At least let me turn around first!"

* * *

"Since when did Ouran have a field like this?" Blaise asked no one in particular as she stared at the vast sea of green grass that lay before her. She and Haruhi were now wearing work-out clothes as well. Earlier, they had been shoved, against their will, into a changing room with a change of clothes supplied by the twins.

"Alright, men, listen up!" Tamaki said off to her right. She glanced over and was equally confused with what she saw. _And since when did Ouran have a huge track field?_

The host club president continued to speak. The twins, Honey, and Mori stood at attention. "We are here today, to start training for the marathon that is in exactly four months! We are not here to mess around, but to work hard. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Hikaru, Kaoru, and Honey answered enthusiastically.

"Good. Then let's go!"

Then all of them, except for Kyoya, began to run down the track. Tamaki was in front, closely followed by Honey, Mori, Hikaru, Kaoru, Blaise, and Haruhi (in that order). All of them seemed to keep the same pace at first, but after a while, Haruhi had trouble keeping up so the other six decided to slow down for her.

Haruhi had finally stopped and was bent over, her hands on her knees, panting. Blaise was the first one to notice so she circled back.

"You ok, Haruhi?" Blaise asked, standing in front of her.

"I'm fine." Haruhi said between breaths. "I'm just . . . not use to . . . all this running." The five males noticed that their female companions were missing so they turned around. Tamaki quickly went to bend down beside the exhausted girl and offered her a water bottle that he had been carrying. Mori followed Honey as the small blonde skipped over to her and looked at her worriedly.

"Well, I can't say that this is surprising." Hikaru said as he and his brother made their way over to the five-some. "You study all the time and you don't take a PE class."

"What's wrong with that?" Blaise asked coldly.

The two came to stand between Tamaki and Blaise as they watched Haruhi take a sip of water.

"That's right, neither do you." Kaoru thought aloud. "How did you keep up with us then?"

". . . I'm an athlete."

They just looked at her. "No you're not." Hikaru said skeptically.

"Well I _was _until I was forced to join the host club."

"What do you mean, Blaise?" Tamaki asked as he stood up again.

The girl sighed. "Well, before I came to Japan I was on a swim team. And now that I'm pretending to be a boy, I can't join one here."

"How come we never knew that before?" The twins asked.

Blaise looked annoyed. "Well you've never asked before!" The other hosts let that sink in, remembering what Kyoya had said to them that day at the beach.

"You were on that swim team several months ago, so how are you still in shape?" Kaoru asked in curiosity.

Blaise shrugged. "I try to jog in the morning. It's a habit I still have from keeping in shape for swim meets." She bent down by Haruhi. "Do you feel better yet?" She asked, not with impatience, but with concern.

"Just give me a sec." Haruhi reassured her, her breathing was definitely more even now.

"Don't worry, Haruhi. We'll wait for you! Then we will be there to support you every step of the way!" Tamaki said with great enthusiasm.

"Thanks, senpai, but I don't need you to dote on me."

"As your loving father, I have the right to be worried about you."

"Right." She said before standing. Then, the seven of them began to jog again, keeping the same pace so that Haruhi could keep up.

* * *

After about an hour of going around the track, the host club stopped for the day and regrouped by Kyoya.

"I've been meaning to ask, senpai," Haruhi said to the dark-haired teen who had been bent over a tablet throughout the entire training session, "why didn't you join us?" Blaise looked up at the question as she drank from a water bottle. She had been wondering the same thing.

Kyoya glanced up the question. "Well, I won't be participating in the actual marathon, but I was asked to help organize it by the main sponsor of the event. This sponsor also runs the event and works very closely with my father's company. That's why I was asked."

"Then why did you wear those clothes?"

Kyoya sighed. "Tamaki refused to let me come out here dressed in my uniform."

"If you had, Kyoya, then we wouldn't be dressed like a team and that is bad for morale!" Said blond explained loudly.

As Blaise listened to their conversation, she sipped from a water bottle and fanned herself with her hand, trying to cool down. It was summer now and the heat was starting to become unbearable. Suddenly, she was doused in cold water. She yelled in surprise and darted away, hugging herself. She whirled around and was furious to see Hikaru and Kaoru standing innocently in the spot she had just occupied, a large water jug lay on the ground behind them.

Her face turned red in anger. "What the hell was that for?"

Hikaru calmly replied with "What are you talking about?"

Blaise threw her water bottle at him. It flew through the air and slammed into the side of his head. His body tipped at the blow, almost falling over. Then he looked at her angrily and yelled "Why did you do that?"

The bespectacled girl crossed her arms over her chest. "You poured a huge jug of ice water on me!" The sudden cold water on her heated skin had surprised her. The fact that it was cold hadn't really affected her, that had actually felt good, but what really surprised her was the fact that they had poured water on her with no warning.

"Well I'm sorry that you can't handle it!"

"It was fricking cold and damp clothes are annoying, especially in the summer!"

As they continued to bicker, Haruhi wondered aloud "Where did they even _get _a jug of ice water?"

* * *

The next day, just after hosting hours had ended, the hosts were getting ready to leave for more marathon training. Blaise and Haruhi were clearing away tea sets and cleaning tabletops as the other hosts went about doing whatever they felt like. Honey sat at a table eating cake, his cousin sitting across from him. Kyoya was busily typing away on his laptop. Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki were (for some reason) sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking at some bottles that Haruhi bought.

"What are these?" Tamaki asked as he looked at a small bottle of shampoo.

"I think its soap." Kaoru offered as he picked up the bottle and looked at the front.

"I've never seen this brand before. Is it new?"

Hikaru glanced over at Haruhi. "Hey, Haruhi, what's this?" He asked, holding up a bottle.

Haruhi looked over in their direction. "Hey! Don't mess with my soap! They were giving those smaller bottles away for free at the supermarket."

"Oh, I see." Hikaru said as he put the bottle back on the ground for his brother and the host club king to see. "This is generic brand commoner's soap. It's really cheap and for people who can't afford the good brands."

The three looked at it in awe. "No wonder I haven't heard of this before." Tamaki marveled. "It's a lesser brand."

Haruhi looked over at them in irritation. "Those happen to work just fine thank you. Soap doesn't have to cost 200,000 yen to work."

"They have to cost that much to work _well._" Kaoru commented.

Suddenly, he and his brother were hugging Haruhi sympathetically. "Aw. Poor Haruhi."

"Your standards are low because you're desperate." Hikaru said as he and his brother began to pat her head.

Tamaki appeared and hugged her from behind. "Poor commoners. They're lives are so hard."

"Guys, get off of me." Haruhi said flatly. She was still holding a tray and knew that with her luck, they would make her drop it.

Blaise was watching from across the room. She rolled her eyes at the three boys. They were so ridiculous. _How did Haruhi deal with them for a year?_ Then, the door that lead to the hallway opened up and she looked in that direction.

A tall man in a suit walked in. He couldn't have been more than thirty. His hair was short and a dirty blond color. His eyes were a deep, dark brown, almost black. He had a small, nonchalant smile on his face as he surveyed the room around him. A taller man wearing a suit and sunglasses followed him in.

The rest of the host club looked at him for a moment in confusion. Who was this man? And why was he here?

Tamaki disengaged himself from Haruhi and made his way over to the man. "Hello, sir. May we help you?"

The man's smile broadened as he looked at the violet-eyed blond. "Oh, no. I'm fine, thank you. I was just looking for someone." Then, he looked up and at something behind Tamaki. "Ah. Kyoya, it's good to see you again."

Said dark-haired teen walked up to the man so that he stood next to his best friend. He bowed slightly. "Likewise, sir."

Tamaki looked confused. "Kyoya, you know this man."

"Yes, I do." Kyoya then turned so that he faced the room. "Everyone, this is the main sponsor of the marathon that we are participating in, Mr. Joseph Stone of Stone Insurance and Security."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Stone!" Honey said happily as he came to stand beside Kyoya.

Mori stood slightly behind his cousin and said "Nice to meet you."

"I've heard of you." Kaoru said as he came to stand next to Tamaki, his twin on his other side.

"You're company is very well known." Hikaru added.

"Yes. His company is involved in many charity events and uses a state-of-the-art security system. He also has branches across the United States, Eastern Asia, and Australia."

The man laughed. "Kyoya, you don't have to give a grand introduction. I only came here on a personal matter and not a business one."

"Of course." Kyoya said with a smile. "Mr. Stone, may I quickly introduce you to the Ouran Host Club? This is our president, Tamaki Suou. Then there are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, Haruhi Fujioka, Mitskuni Haninozuka, and Takashi Morinozuka."

They bowed. "It is very nice to meet you all." Joseph Stone said. "I have been wanting to meet for some time now. Kyoya has told me about you and I am excited that a group of high school students is interested in participating in my charity event." He looked around briefly. "Now, if I am not mistaken, there are supposed to be eight of you. I only see seven. I do believe there is someone missing."

The Hitachiin twins looked around in confusion. "Blaise was just here." Kaoru said.

The older twin looked at the girl beside him. "Haruhi, where's Blaise?" He asked her accusingly.

"Don't say that like it's my fault she's not here." She said irritably. "We were cleaning, remember? She's probably in back."

"Hikaru, Kaoru, could you go get Blaise?" Tamaki asked.

"Sure." Kaoru said.

"Fine." Hikaru groaned.

So, the two of them made their way to the back room, Hikaru grumbling the whole way. The door was already slightly open, so Hikaru just pushed it as he walked in.

"Hey, four-eyes. Get out here." The redhead looked around the room. It was empty. "Blaise?" There was no answer.

Kaoru looked in. "Where is she?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't know."

"Blaise? Are you in here?" Kaoru walked inside, looking around.

Hikaru began to walk further into the room as well, wondering where the girl had gone. He walked around the open door. "Blaise?" He called again. He looked around the door and froze at what he saw. "Blaise?" She was just standing there, her back against the wall. A tray was in her hands, the tea set that was on it, Hikaru noticed, was shaking slightly. That's when he noticed that Blaise was trembling. There was also a look on her face that he had never seen there before. He couldn't identify it. Hikaru was shocked. He had never seen Blaise this way before.

"Hikaru, did you find her?" Kaoru asked as he came around the door to stand beside his brother. He stopped in his tracks when he saw their long-haired friend. "Blaise? What's wrong? Are you ok?" She didn't answer him. The twins glanced at each other. Something was obviously wrong.

Kaoru gently laid his hands on the handles of the tray. "Blaise, let me take this." She didn't say anything to him, she didn't even look at him, but he was able to carefully pry it from her hands and walk away with it to put it on a table. As he passed his brother, he gave him a meaningful look that screamed "talk to her."

Hikaru nodded and turned toward the emerald-eyed girl. What was he supposed to say?

He twisted his hands together awkwardly. "Blaise, are you ok?" She continued to stare at the floor. "Are you hurt? Do you need something?" Finally, she murmured something but it was too soft for him to hear. "What?"

Blaise took in a breath. "He needs to leave." Her fists were now clenched by her sides.

Hikaru was confused. "Mr. Stone?"

She gave a small nod. "He needs to leave _now." _She emphasized, her voice quivering.

Hikaru noticed Kaoru come back as he stood beside him. He turned to his younger brother. "Stay with her for a minute."

Kaoru looked confused. "Sure, but why . . ." Hikaru didn't wait to answer him but went straight outside and into the main clubroom. He didn't know what was going on with Blaise, but it seemed pretty serious.

The older Hitachiin immediately went up to Kyoya. He tapped his senpai's shoulder to get his attention. Mr. Stone was talking about something and Kyoya did not want to miss this opportunity to strengthen his business relationship with this man, but Hikaru was being persistent so he was forced to look at him. Hikaru urgently beckoned him away from the group.

Kyoya sighed. Then he turned and smiled at the man. "Excuse me for a moment." He said before following Hikaru. "What is it?" He asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance he felt.

"Mr. Stone needs to leave."

Kyoya just looked at him. "Why?"

Hikaru sighed impatiently. "It's Blaise."

"What about her? You were able to find her, right?"

"Well yeah-"

"Then what's the problem."

Hikaru was silent for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair as he thought of the right words to say. "She's . . . something's not right." He paused again, wondering how to continue. "It looks like she having a breakdown."

Kyoya pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did you two idiots do?"

"Kaoru and I didn't do anything." Hikaru said angrily. "I found her that way. She wasn't crying or anything. She was just having a mental breakdown. I was barely able to make her talk to me. She only said that he needed to leave."

The older boy looked at the younger in surprise. He did not expect something like this to happen with Blaise. Add that to the list of things they didn't know about her. "I'll take care of it." He said in his usual brisk and business-like tone. "Try to calm her down in the meantime." Hikaru nodded and went back to help his brother with Blaise. Kyoya watched him disappear behind the door before turning around and going back to stand by Tamaki. He interrupted their conversation. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stone, but I have to politely ask you to leave."

Tamaki looked at his best friend in confusion. "But, Kyoya-." The blond immediately cut himself off with one look into his friend's eyes.

Kyoya looked back at the man in front of them. "I apologize, sir, but an urgent club matter has come up and we must deal with it immediately. However, I invite you to come back anytime you wish."

Joseph Stone just looked at the boy for a moment. It was impossible to read his face, he still had that smile on. "Of course." He finally said. "I understand. I'll come back again some other time." He turned and opened the door. "It was nice to meet you all" was his farewell before the man who came with him closed the door behind them.

Honey looked at the tall, bespectacled teen beside him. "What was that about Kyo-chan? Is something wrong?"

Tamaki crossed his arms. "Yes, Kyoya. Why did you ask him to leave? I would have thought you wanted us to be polite to him."

Kyoya just smacked the back of Tamaki's head. "Shut up for a second you moron." He said in a flat tone.

"Ow." Tamaki whined, tears streaming down his face as if he were in some anime. He put his hands over the hurt spot on his blond head.

"Hikaru, Kaoru. How are things back there?" Kyoya called. There was silence as the hosts around him looked at him with confusion before looking in the direction of the back room.

There wasn't an answer for a moment. Then Hikaru's voice shouted "Is he gone?"

"Yes."

A moment passed before, finally, Blaise appeared, followed by the twins. She looked shaken up.

Honey and Tamaki walked over to her. "Blaise-chan, are you alright?" The small boy asked.

Tamaki looked at her worriedly. "Is something wrong? You look a little pale."

Blaise looked up at them and gave a small, reassuring smile. "I'm fine, guys."

"No you're not." Hikaru said sternly. "What happened just now?"

Blaise was silent.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that your uncle from America dropped by for a visit does it?" Kyoya asked pointedly.

". . . Joseph Stone is your uncle?!" Tamaki and the twins yelled.

Blaise cringed at that. She nodded in response.

"What's wrong? He seems really nice. Are you two having a fight?" Honey asked.

The long-haired girl thought it over for a moment. "You could say that." She paused again before continuing. "My uncle and I aren't exactly on good terms with one another at the moment." Hatred was practically dripping off of her every word.

"Hm." Honey thought. "Well you know what could fix that?" He asked, hugging Blaise's arm. "Some cake!" The other hosts sweat-dropped. "Maybe if you share some cake with him then things will get better and-."

The small blond was suddenly cut off by Mori, who had picked him up and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Not helping" was all Mori said.

Blaise smiled a little and went over to where Mori was standing. She placed her hand on top of Honey's head. "Thanks, Honey-senpai." She said as she lightly ruffled his hair.

Mori had removed his hand and Honey smiled at the girl. "No problem, Blaise-chan!"

Blaise turned to the rest of the hosts who were still looking at her. "I'm fine, guys. Really." She smiled brightly. "Now, I do believe we were going somewhere."

Hikaru just stared at her. Something was definitely off.

"Blaise is right." Tamaki said after a while, deciding that it would be best to act normal for now. "We should get going!" He began to march toward the door. Everyone began to follow him, the four youngest hosts in the back. Haruhi was walking next to Blaise, talking to her and looking a little worried. Hikaru was right behind them, listening. The younger twin hung back a little and watched the three of them for a moment.

Kaoru could see his brother's focus fixed on Blaise. _He's really worried. _Kaoru smiled to himself. Not that _he _wasn't worried, but his brother seemed _really worried _over the girl he supposedly hated. Kaoru jogged to catch up with them. _I guess that's a good thing. _

* * *

"Blaise, I'm home!"

Blaise looked inside for a moment before quickly making her way downstairs. She smiled when she saw her dad taking off his shoes at the front door. "Hey, dad. How was work?"

"Busy." The man answered with a sigh. "How was school?"

Blaise thought about her answer before giving it. "Busy." Earlier, she had walked home from her second training session with the host club. It left little to no time for her to do homework but she had finished it somehow. Then, she had put dinner on and was bringing the laundry in from the upstairs balcony. "Can you watch the stove while I finish the laundry?"

"Yes ma'am." Her dad answered dutifully before going into the kitchen.

His daughter smiled again and made her way back up the stairs. At the top, she turned and walked to the sliding glass doors at the end of the hall. Outside, was the balcony, it was at the front of the house and overlooked the neighborhood. Blaise leaned against the railing and looked out over the street. She liked this view, it was peaceful and set her mind at ease. She sighed through her nose once before turning, taking down the hanging laundry, and putting it into a basket. It was dry and warm from the summer sun, so Blaise couldn't help but hold some of it close to her body before putting it away, wanting to feel the comforting warmth left by the sun.

After a few minutes, Blaise brought the laundry downstairs so she could fold it in a larger space. She dumped the contents of the basket into a chair and began to fold them, sorting them into piles on the couch as she went. It was quiet for a while, the only sounds coming from the kitchen as Blaise's father finished making dinner.

"Blaise," her father said after a while "you wouldn't mind if someone came over for dinner would you?"

Blaise looked over the couch and breakfast bar at him. "I don't." She said. "Why? Are one of your co-workers coming over?"

"You could say co-worker." The man in the kitchen said. "Actually, my boss is coming over, your uncle."

Blaise froze mid-fold. Her hands began to shake so she put down the shirt she was holding. "My uncle?" She tried to keep voice even.

"Yes. Mr. Stone arrived in Japan a few days ago to oversee the final stages of our system switch. I just found out today though. We talked and he said that he would like to check on you and see how well you were settling in Japan."

The girl just stood there in the living room, still frozen. Then, she spoke as she picked up the shirt again and began to fold it. "When is he coming?" She asked.

"In about an hour."

It was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "Sorry, dad, but I have to go out. There's a book that I need to buy in a store across town. They close in an hour and I need it by tomorrow."

It was quiet again. "Oh. Well that's unfortunate. When will you be back?"

Blaise bit her lip. "Not until late. I told a friend I'd study with her later."

"What about dinner?"

"I'll get something while I'm out." Blaise began to put the folded clothes into the basket.

". . . Alright. Don't stay out too late."

She smiled at him. "I won't." She hurriedly went upstairs and put the clothes in their proper places before coming back down and going to the front door to put on a pair of sneakers to go with her jeans and purple polo. "I'll be back later."

"Ok. I'll tell Mr. Stone why you couldn't make it."

"Thanks." The girl said after she grabbed her wallet and house keys from a small table and turned the doorknob. She put the items in her pockets, where her phone was already stored. "See you later." Then she closed the door behind her and quickly went out the gate and down the sidewalk.

As she walked, Blaise did her best to stay calm. She felt her hair bounce on her shoulder with every step. She found that she kept it tied so it rested on her shoulder a lot.

Her fists were clenched by her sides and she was shaking slightly. She had hated that she lied to her dad, but she had seen no other way to avoid the situation.

_Why is he even here? Overseeing a system switch my ass. _One of the main reasons she had gone to Japan was to get away from everything, at least for a while. _Why can't he just leave me alone?_

_. . . I really hate that man._

Blaise trudged down the sidewalk, her hands in her pockets. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows across the pavement. She wasn't sure what to do then. She might as well buy a book so it would at least _look_ like she had been telling the truth. Then she should probably just sit in a café for a while, maybe eat something. All she wanted to do was stay out of her house until _he _was gone. A feeling of dread fell upon her. She knew that she was only delaying the inevitable. Eventually, they would meet face-to-face.

**A/N: How was that? Did I do well? It's late now and I have read this a dozen times today trying to edit the thing. I am now tired so I was feeling a little lazy. So, what do you think about Joseph Stone? Obviously, Blaise doesn't like him. But why? If you feel like it, go ahead and tell me what you think in a review. I, being the god of this small world, already know why, but I want to see what you guys think. Oh, by the way, I now have a Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) story up so give it some love and attention if you are into that fandom. Well, review, favorite, follow at your own convenience! Peace!**


	9. Chapter 9: Unexpected Visits Part 1

Chapter 9: Unexpected Visits Part 1

**A/N: Hi! It's been a while, I know. Sorry. Here's a warning in advance: school for me starts in a few days and I do not know how that will affect my updates. I will either be put on a more regular schedule or it may be a while in between updates. So if I take a while, please bare with me and just know that I am not abandoning you guys.**

On this fine July morning, Blaise was walking down the street, carrying a box under her arm and, per her usual, she was dressed as a boy. She was in a good mood today. It was Saturday; there was no school and summer vacation was just a week away! Even better, she got a break from the host club for the weekend. Tamaki had finally permitted that they took a break from marathon training on the condition that everyone did small work-outs on their own. Blaise had happily agreed and had stressed that she wanted to be left alone over the break.

She had jogged earlier that morning and was now doing a favor for Aldric. He had sent her a present for a friend of his. Apparently, Aldric didn't want to send the gift directly to his friend in case it arrived early, so, after it came in the de Luca's mailbox, he gave Blaise the real address and asked her to bring it to his friend that Saturday.

Personally, Blaise didn't mind, she didn't have much planned for that day anyway. Now, she was scanning the buildings, trying to find the right address. She glanced at the paper she clutched in her hand. She was on the right street but she couldn't find the right building. Her eyes scanned her surroundings again. That's when she saw the building, an apartment complex. She went up to the second floor, following the directions Aldric had given her. After going several doors down, Blaise found the right place.

She shifted the box under her arm and knocked on the door. She stood there, waiting for the person inside to answer. She didn't know what kind of person to expect, Aldric hadn't given any kind of description, but for her sake, she hoped that they were normal.

After a few minutes of standing there, Blaise knocked again. _Maybe no one's home. _Her fingers drummed on the side of the box as she waited. If no one answered her soon, she decided that she would come back later and try again. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Blaise checked the time. It was almost eleven.

"Excuse me?"

Blaise looked up at the voice and was met with a pretty, long-haired woman wearing a dress. She froze for a second, not exactly sure of what to do in this situation. Finally, she just went with something simple. "Uh, hi."

"Are you trying to get into that apartment?" The lady asked, pointing to the door Blaise was standing in front of.

Blaise glanced at it, then looked back at the woman. "Well . . . kind of. I was just trying to drop off a package."

"Really?" The woman smiled. "Well I guess you can give that to me, I live here."

"Oh. Ok." Blaise went up to the woman and gave her the package.

The woman checked the box to see where it came from. "Ooo, it's from Kumiko." She looked at Blaise. "Tell me, do you know him?"

The younger girl blinked. "Uh, yeah. He's my brother."

The woman seemed to bounce slightly. "Oh! You're Kumiko's sister! Then you_ must_ come in!" She quickly went over to the door and put in a set of keys.

The woman beckoned Blaise inside as the door swung open. "You know about me?" Blaise asked.

"Of course. Kumiko loves to talk about you! You're just as cute as he says."

Blaise blushed slightly. "Um. Thank you, miss . . . uh."

"Oh, honey, just call me Ranka!" The woman said as she went into the kitchen. "Now, please sit down. I'll make some tea."

"Ok." Blaise felt a little awkward being suddenly invited into the home of someone she didn't know, but if Aldric knew them then it must be fine. She noticed the tatami mats and took her shoes off before walking to the table she saw and sitting down beside it. As Blaise waited, she looked around the room. The apartment was small, but it seemed nice.

Then, her eyes fell upon a cabinet in the corner. Blaise couldn't take her eyes of off it. She felt drawn to it. This being the case, she couldn't help herself from scooting over and peeking inside. What she found was what looked like a shrine to someone who was deceased. There were a few candles, and in between them was the picture of a woman. Blaise couldn't help but feel like she had seen her somewhere before.

Ranka soon came into the room with two cups of tea and set them down before sitting across from Blaise.

"Oh. You found the shrine."

Startled, Blaise looked at Ranka. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

"No, it's fine. I'm sure she doesn't mind."

Blaise gave her a small smile and turned her attention back to the cabinet. She couldn't resist picking up the picture frame. "May I ask who this is?"

Ranka gave a wistful smile. "That's Kotoko, my wife."

Blaise was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Finally she said "She was very pretty." Ranka just gave a small nod. Blaise set the photo down and closed her eyes, quietly paying her respects before closing the cabinet and turning to face her host.

"Thank you. Now, if I'm not mistaken, your name is Blaise." Blaise nodded and took a sip of her tea. "I understand that you first came to Japan in April. Do you like it here?"

Blaise nodded again. "It's a little different from what I'm used to, but I'm getting used to it."

"I'm glad to hear that." Ranka said after taking a sip of her drink. "And what about Kumiko? How's university in America? We haven't been able to talk recently and I am just dying to know."

"It's great as far as I can tell. He seems to really enjoy himself there."

"That's good. He seemed really excited to go. What school did he go to again?"

"Uh, Harvard."

"Oh, I hear that's a really good school."

"Ha, ha. Yeah." Blaise still had a hard time associating her clingy, transvestic brother with one of the best schools in the US.

Suddenly there was a clicking sound and Blaise heard the door swing open. This was followed by a "Dad, I'm home." Blaise froze. She knew that voice.

Ranka quickly got up from the table and went into the entryway. "Oh, Haruhi. You're just in time. How was your trip to the supermarket?"

There was a sigh. "Ok I guess." Haruhi walked around Ranka to put away what was in the plastic bags she was carrying. That's when she noticed their guest. "Blaise?"

Blaise blinked, realizing that Kotoko and Haruhi looked alike. "Haruhi?"

They looked at each other for a moment before Haruhi gave her friend a bright smile. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

Blaise wasn't sure what to say. "Uh, well, I was-."

Then a certain pair of twins walked through the door.

"Who are you talking to, Haruhi?"

"Is your dad home?"

They froze when they saw who was sitting at the Fujioka's table. Then, gold met emerald as Hikaru and Blaise stared at each other. Everything was still until . . .

"What are _you_ doing here?" Two voices yelled as Blaise and Hikaru pointed accusing fingers at each other. "I could ask the same from you! Hey, stop copying me!"

"What's with all the noise?" Tamaki asked as he stepped through the doorway with Kyoya. He blinked in surprise. "Blaise?"

"Blaise-chan?" Honey peeked around the doorframe, Mori standing right behind him. "Yay! The whole club is here!"

Blaise sighed. _So much for my day off. _She looked around at the now assembled host club. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We saw Haru-chan walking down the street and decided to say 'hi!'" Honey explained as he went up to stand beside Blaise.

The bespectacled brunette raised an eyebrow. "So you basically decided to stalk her?"

Tamaki came to stand next to his blonde senpai. "Don't think of it that way. Think of it as being protective."

"And who said she needed _your _protection."

Tamaki turned to face Ranka. "Uh, well as her father I-."

Suddenly his face was under Ranka's foot. "And who said that you were her father?" After what Ranka deemed to be a satisfying amount of grinding Tamaki's face into the floor, he went into the kitchen. "I suppose I should make some more tea for our handsome guests."

"I'll make it!" Tamaki insisted after making an unusually quick recovery.

Ranka seemed to ignore the host king as he picked the teapot off of the counter with an innocent smile, causing Tamaki to miss it and fall onto the floor. "Oh, Tamaki, what happened? Why did you fall? You must be pretty clumsy to trip over nothing." He simpered.

As if nothing happened, Haruhi gently took the pot from her father. "It's ok, dad. I can make the tea."

Blaise started to put the pieces together. _Dad? So Ranka is Haruhi's dad. So how do he and my brother know each other? Oh, wait. He's a transvestite too. This explains a lot. But wait, if Kotoko was married to Ranka, then that also means that . . . she was Haruhi's mom._

"Oh. Thank you, Haruhi! You're too sweet. Come, everyone, let's wait in the living room." And so, everyone, except Haruhi and Tamaki, went to sit around the small table in the Fujioka's apartment.

Haruhi was making tea for seven while Tamaki moped on the floor. When she noticed that he was still there, she looked down and asked "Senpai, why are you still on the ground?"

After a moment he answered with "no reason." There was another pause before he stood up and drifted over to Haruhi's side to watch her make tea.

The short-haired girl looked at the blonde. "Uh, you know, you don't have to wait for me Tamaki-senpai. I'll be finished soon."

". . . Ok." Then, he trudged into the living room and sat quietly between Hikaru and Kyoya, his knees drawn up to his chest as he drew circles on the floor with his index finger. Not long after, Haruhi brought in a tray filled with tea cups and sat down next to Blaise.

"This place is more cramped than usual." Hikaru commented. For this, he received harsh shushing from his brother and the host club king. His eyes widened as he covered his mouth when he realized how tactless he had been toward commoner housing.

Blaise drained the rest of her tea and stood up. "I really should get going."

Everyone looked up at her. "Why, Blaise? Is something the matter?" Ranka asked.

"Oh no. It's nothing." Blaise said as she rubbed the back of her neck. She walked to the entryway to put on her shoes. "My dad is expecting me to be home soon and I said that I would cook lunch."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Haruhi asked. "It no trouble."

"Sorry, I can't, but thanks, Haruhi." Blaise gave a smile and a wave as she opened the door. "See you guys." Then, the door closed behind her. She would have stayed if it had just been Haruhi and Ranka, but the _entire _host club . . . Blaise wanted at least a little rest.

She turned and headed toward the stairs. _I should get home before Dad starts to worry too much. _Blaise shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at the sky. _It's really hot today. Why did I wear jeans? _She walked down the street in silence for a while, listening to the sound of passing cars and her footsteps on the pavement.

Blaise was just nearing the corner that turned onto her street when she heard a very familiar sound. She stopped in her tracks. _Was that . . ._ Slowly, she turned her head to look at the alley she had just passed. _Should I? No, I can't. I need to get home._ Taking a few steps backward, she peeked around the corner of the wall. Sitting on the ground, was a small, calico cat.

Blaise stared at it, unable to look away. Then, it meowed at her and she fell in love.

The bespectacled girl knelt down in front of the cat, her eyes wide. "Hey there." She reached her hand out cautiously. The cat watched as her hand came up. Just as she was about to touch the little fur ball, Blaise paused and waited. The cat looked up at her fingers before it nuzzled its face into her palm, purring.

Blaise gasped. "Oh! You're so cute!" She picked the small animal up under its front legs. "Who would leave you out here? You're too clean to be a stray." When she spoke, she used a voice that someone would use on a baby.

The cat was scooped up and snuggled against Blaise's chest. "I can't just leave you out here by yourself." She pressed her cheek against the soft fur. She really didn't want to leave the cat in an alley by itself.

"Meow."

Blaise looked into two golden eyes as they looked into her green ones. Her heart melted at its cuteness. She hugged it closer as she began to walk the rest of the way to her house. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell her dad to convince him to let her keep the feline. Then again, she probably couldn't keep the cat forever, he most likely belonged to someone.

As Blaise reached her front door, she put her keys into the lock. Then it swung open and she stepped inside.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Haruhi asked. "It's no trouble."

"Sorry, I can't, but thanks, Haruhi." Blaise gave a smile and a wave as she opened the door. "See you guys." Then, the door closed behind her.

There was a short silence before Hikaru received two fists to the head, one from Haruhi and one from Tamaki.

"You idiot! You made her leave!"

"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" Hikaru yelled back at them.

"I guess her reaction was to be expected. We labeled her as the loner-type after all." Kyoya said sagely.

"But we can't just let her leave!" Honey whimpered. "She's our friend now. We can't hang out without Blaise-chan. It wouldn't be right."

"Honey-senapai is right!" Tamaki agreed with one fist in the air. "Blaise is a member of The Host Club! She cannot be left out of our club activities."

"How does following me home after going to the supermarket count as a club activity?" Haruhi asked dryly. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! Put me down!" She suddenly yelled as the shady twins picked her up under her arms at a signal from their boss.

"Men, take her to the limo!"

"Aye, aye, boss!" And with that, Hikaru and Kaoru dragged Haruhi out of her "commoner's dwelling" and toward the black limousine parked outside.

As all of the hosts stood up to go, Kyoya smiled at Ranka. "Excuse us, Ranka, but we need to borrow your daughter for the afternoon."

"Oh, that's fine." Ranka smiled back as he followed the hosts to the door. "Just don't keep her out too late, boys."

There was a dutiful "yes sir!" as the hosts got into the limo (some more forcefully than others) and drove away.

Haruhi sat fuming in the seat between Hikaru and Kaoru as the vehicle began to move. "Guys, you didn't have to carry me out. What the heck are we doing anyway?"

"Haruhi, I thought that would have been obvious. We're going to Blaise's house." Tamaki explained.

"Is that really such a good idea? Shouldn't we leave her alone?"

"Have you _seen _her during classes? She has enough 'alone time.'" Kaoru reasoned. "And just imagine what she's like _outside _of school."

Haruhi thought about it. Kaoru _did _have a point. Blaise spent a lot of time by herself in the classroom unless she or the twins talked to her. Then during hosting hours, she would hold polite conversation with the guests and wouldn't talk unless spoken to. She seemed fine around the host club but they were the only ones. To think what she did without them . . .

The brown-eyed girl sighed. "I guess you have a point. Still, maybe she has a reason for wanting to be alone."

"Who can say? She never says anything." Hikaru replied.

Not long after, the limo stopped in front of the de Luca household. Everyone filed out and came to stand in front of the gate.

"Whoa! There's a wall around it. It's like a castle!" Honey marveled as he jumped up and down.

"Alright, men, listen up!" Tamaki ordered. Everyone except Kyoya and Haruhi gave salutes. "We have seen the outside, but looks can be deceiving! We have no idea what the inside may look like, but we are not here to inconvenience Blaise and her father, so words like 'rundown,' 'hovel,' and 'shoddy' are forbidden!"

"Didn't you give us this speech when we went into Haruhi's house the first time?" The twins asked.

"Am I understood?" Tamaki asked, obviously ignoring their question.

"Yes sir!" Honey and the Hitachiins answered.

"Alright! Then let's move out!" The blonde turned dramatically to face the house. He put his hand on the gate to open it. The hosts stood there, watching their fearless leader attempt to lead them onward.

"Hey, boss, what's taking so long?" The red heads asked.

"I can't . . . open it!" Tamaki strained.

"How do you not know how to open a gate?"

"Oh, good grief." Haruhi sighed. "Right now you're basically breaking and entering. Or at least trying to." She went up to stand beside Tamaki. "You have to ring the doorbell." As she said this, she pressed a button in the stone.

Tamaki blinked at her. "A doorbell? I thought that those would be closer to the door."

"Shouldn't it be called 'gate-bell'?" The twins asked.

Then, the front door opened and the hosts could see a tall man with dark hair standing in the doorframe. He walked down from the porch and up to the gate.

"Uh, hello. What can I do for you?" He asked warily. He was probably confused as to why seven teenagers were ringing his doorbell.

"Hello, Mr. de Luca. We go to school with your daughter." Tamaki answered in his delightful, princely way. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but we are some friends of Blaise's and we just wanted to stop by and see her."

The man looked at them for a moment before saying with a smile. "You must be the host club. Well, Blaise isn't here at the moment, but she should be back soon, she was just running an errand. If you would like, you can come inside and wait for her."

Tamaki gave a smile. "We would love too, if it isn't too much trouble of course."

"Not at all. Please, come in." The gate was opened and the hosts were lead inside. Kyoya stayed behind to give the driver instructions to come back later, mostly because a crowd was forming to stare at it.

Inside, the hosts looked in awe at the interior of the house.

"Western decor." Kyoya mused. "This is not your average commoner's household."

"It's a nice house." Kaoru remarked as he walked around.

"Thank you. Would you like some tea?" Everyone answered in the affirmative and sat down either at the breakfast bar or the dinner table. Once the tea was served, Mr. de Luca sat down in the remaining chair at the table.

They sat there quietly for a while, the only sound coming from Honey who was laughing as he spun in his chair at the breakfast bar.

"It's nice to finally meet the host club that I've heard so much about. You all already have an idea on who I am. My name is Tetsuya de Luca and, as you already know, I am Blaise's father." He looked around the table at them. "And I can take a guess at who _you_ are."

"Blaise talks about us that much?" Tamaki asked, surprised.

Tetsuya gave a nervous laugh. "Well, not really. But I've heard a lot from Kyoya."

Everyone turned to glare at Kyoya. He pushed his glasses up before speaking. "This shouldn't come as a surprise to you all. I did the same for Haruhi."

"That doesn't make it any less weird, Kyoya-senpai." Haruhi grumbled.

Kaoru looked behind him at the door. "I wonder what's taking her so long. Her house isn't that far from Haruhi's apartment."

"You don't think she was jumped do you?" Tamaki suddenly panicked. "Or maybe she got lost!"

"I don't think she would have gotten lost on her way to her own house." Haruhi said skeptically. "And getting mugged isn't very likely either. This neighborhood is really safe."

"But, Haruhi! This is the commoner's world! It's dangerous and unpredictable!"

"To you spoiled rich types maybe."

"I am not spoiled!" He pouted, hitting his fists onto the table. "You take that back!"

That's when they heard the front door open. They all looked over at it and could just see Blaise taking off her shoes. "I'm home." She said just before she looked up and froze when she saw the host club in her kitchen.

"It's about time you got here." Hikaru said irritably.

"What took you so long?" His twin added with just as much irritation.

"Oh, hell." Blaise muttered just as Tamaki tried to tackle her with a hug.

"Oh, Blaise, my daughter! Where were you? Daddy was so worried!" Then, he saw what she was holding and blinked. "Why do you have a cat?"

"A cat?" Haruhi asked as the hosts got up from the table to see.

"Uh, yeah." Blaise said as she let Haruhi scratch the fur ball behind the ears. "I saw him just sitting in an alley. I couldn't just leave him there."

"How do you even know that it's a boy?" Hikaru asked. He reached his arms out and picked the cat up under its front legs. "Yep. It's a boy."

Blaise quickly took the cat away from him. "Hey! No bestiality."

He gaped at her. "How much of a pervert do you think I am?" She opened her mouth to speak. "Don't answer that."

"He's so cute!" Honey said as he stroked the cat's back. "Don't you think so, Takashi?"

"Yeah."

Blaise looked around at them. "What are you guys doing at my house anyway?"

"Well after you left we felt that Hikaru needed to give you a well-deserved apology."

Said red-head whirled around to look at Kyoya. "What?"

"Your tactless comment made Blaise leave. You should apologize."

"That was not in the agreement to come here!"

"Mr. Hitachiin." Honey tried to say sternly but of course failed. "You have committed a terrible crime: offending this young lady. You must pay for your crime with an apology or be sentenced to no sweets for a year." Mori nodded in agreement.

"Only you would think that was a bad punishment, senpai. Anyway, that's not a realistic sentence." Hikaru said exasperatedly. "She's not even offended."

"Say sorry!" Honey said firmly.

"Never!"

"But, Hikaru. You hurt my feelings" said Blaise "tearfully."

"You are so faking it!"

Blaise sniffed as she looked up. "T-Tamaki-senpai?"

The blonde's eyes flashed as he turned to look at her. She and the cat seemed to be pleading with him. Suddenly involved, Tamaki was in front of Hikaru, his hand fisted in his shirt.

"You will apologize to my daughter right this minute! Do you hear me?" He said loudly, violently shaking Hikaru back and forth.

"Alright fine! I'll do it." He glared at the girl in front of him. He could see her slight smirk as she looked back at him, stroking her cat like an evil mastermind. He knew what she was doing: she was taking advantage of the situation so that he would be beneath her, at least for a little while. But he had to apologize because a small part of him knew that he had been rude. That didn't mean he had to like it.

"I'm sorry." He said through clenched teeth.

Blaise smiled evilly. "You're forgiven." She said as she ruffled his hair.

"Um, Blaise?"

She looked up at her father's voice. "Oh right. Lunch. Sorry, dad. I'll get right on that."

"Well, that's good to know, but that's not what I was going to ask you. Why did you bring a stray cat home?"

She went up to him. "But he's not a stray! He's too clean. I was just wondering if he could stay here until we find his owners. Please, can we?"

Mr. de Luca looked down at his daughter for a moment before saying "Alright."

"Yay!" Blaise cheered. She jumped up and put her cheek to the cat's soft fur.

Hikaru stared at her. She was so happy, just like Honey when a piece of strawberry cake was set in front of him. _She actually looks cute. I guess she really likes animals. Wait, did I just think that Blaise was cute?_

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Hikaru looked over to see his brother.

"N-Nothing. Hey, why didn't you stop them from manhandling me?"

"Well you needed to apologize." Kaoru couldn't help but notice his brother's slightly red cheeks.

"You saw her face! She was faking!"

"True, but that doesn't change the fact that what you said wasn't nice. We both know that."

Hikaru sighed. "Yeah."

"So, Blaise, what's for lunch?" They could hear Tamaki say.

Blaise looked startled. "What? Since when were you eating lunch here?"

"That's a good idea." Mr. de Luca said. "You bought a lot of extra things when you went shopping the other day."

"I guess. I hope that you guys don't mind chicken, rice, and miso soup."

"That sounds good, Blaise-chan!" Honey cheered.

"Do you mind if I help? I know that we came here unexpectedly, so it's the least I can do." Haruhi offered.

"Uh, sure, Haruhi." So, Blaise gave Honey the cat before she and Haruhi went into the kitchen. "Can you guys set the table?" Blaise asked the boys.

Tamaki and the twins blinked. "Set the table?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Haruhi. "They've never set a table before have they?"

The other girl sighed. "No."

"Damn rich people." Blaise muttered. "I meant put bowls and cups down. The bowls are in there" she said, pointing to a cabinet "and the cups are in there." She pointed to a cabinet beside it. "Then get chopsticks from that drawer. Get one of each for each person, you got that? And wash your hands first."

"Alright, men, let's do this! If commoners can do it, then so can we." And so, the three clueless boys went to work attempting to set the table. Mr. de Luca offered to help, but they refused, wanting to figure it out for themselves. Sadly for them, they were only able to finish after Haruhi and Blaise were done cooking.

"It took you guys this long to figure it out?" Blaise asked as she and Haruhi set the dishes in the middle of the table. "You guys really are stupid." Tamaki immediately took offense and crouched in his emo corner.

"Well excuse us." The twins huffed.

Suddenly, the house phone rang. Blaise's dad answered it. "Hello . . . yes . . . yes I understand . . . I'll be right there." He hung up and went to the stairs.

"Who was that, dad?"

"It was work. Sorry, Blaise but you and your friends will have to eat without me."

"Oh, uh." Blaise looked around before going into the kitchen and pulling out a lunchbox. She quickly filled it with food and closed it just as her dad came down the stairs, putting on a blazer as he went. "Take this." She said as he went to put his shoes on.

He smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. "Thank you. I should be back before dinner. Forgive me everyone."

"No need to apologize Mr. de Luca. Work problems are understandable." Kyoya reassured him. Then, they said goodbye and Mr. de Luca left for work in his car.

"Your father seems really busy." Kaoru said as he came to stand at Blaise's shoulder.

"Where does he work?" Hikaru asked from her other shoulder.

Blaise was quiet for a while before replying. "Stone Insurance and Security."

"He works for your uncle?" They asked in surprise.

"Yep." Blaise's mood darkened considerably. There was a pause before she said "why don't we go eat now? The food will get cold" a little to cheerily.

The twins glanced at each other before going to sit at the table with everyone else. Mori and Honey sat at the breakfast bar while everyone else sat at the table. Tamaki of course insisted to sit at the head. After they said thanks for the meal, Hikaru had a thought.

"Hey, Blaise, I just thought of something."

"You've had a thought? That must have been a painful journey."

He glared at her from across the table. "I really hate you."

She flashed him a smile. "Aw. I hate you too."

Next to them, Kaoru and Haruhi were trying to hide the fact that they were laughing.

"Anyway." Hikaru continued through clenched teeth, a forced smile on his face. "You never did tell us why you were at Haruhi's apartment."

"Oh, well I was delivering a package."

"A package?" Kaoru asked.

Blaise nodded. "It was from my brother."

"You have a brother, Blaise-chan?" Honey asked.

Blaise was confused. "Yeah. I thought you and Mori-senpai would know him. He was in your class. His name's Aldric."

"Hm." The little blonde put his hand to his chin in thought. "Oh! We do know him, don't we, Takashi? I guess we should have known you were his sister. You have the same last name and you're both so quiet."

"He was quiet, huh?" Blaise asked. _He was probably really bummed and ashamed that he couldn't cross-dress._

"Wait so how do Haruhi's dad and your brother know each other?" Hikaru asked.

"And what did he send to Ranka?" The younger twin finished.

Blaise just shrugged in response. Then she glanced at Haruhi. She could tell that she had an idea as to why their relatives knew each other, but she wasn't going to say anything yet.

"Oh, Blaise, I was thinking." Tamaki began. "Your father's name is Tetsuya."

She looked up at him. "Yes."

"Well, that's Japanese. I thought you were French."

"I'm part French. My father is Italian and Japanese. My mom is French. She gave me my first name and my last name is Italian and came from my dad."

"Oh, I see." He said in understanding. There was a short pause. "Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have any summer plans?"

The girl thought about it. "No. Not really. Why?"

"Well. The host club has plans to go to Karuizawa."

"Since when did you guys make plans to follow me to Karuizawa?" Haruhi yelled. "How did you guys even know that-?" She cut herself off and looked at Kyoya. "Never mind."

"Why Karuizawa?" Blaise asked.

"Haruhi was already planning on going there to work at a Bed and Breakfast." Kyoya answered. "We decided that it was a good vacation spot."

"But I'll be paying for my stay, won't I?"

"In a way, yes."

"I don't know. Maybe . . . I'll think about it."

As they continued to eat their lunch, the hosts made small conversation. Sometimes, it was normal conversation, or as normal as conversation could get with the host club involved. Other times, it was arguments and bickering over things that were ridiculously trivial. But all in all, it was a very enjoyable evening for The Ouran High School Host Club.

**A/N: Yay! I think that was an ok chapter. Tell me, am I actually funny when writing this story? I try to be because, you know, it's OHSHC. It wouldn't be unless there was some ridiculousness. But I struggle when it comes to writing humor and I don't know if I'm that good. Please let me know and thanks to everyone who follows, favorites, and reviews. You guys are awesome.**


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